INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES Vol. 3, Issue 7, July, 2017 ISSN (Online): 2454-8499 Impact Factor: 1.3599(GIF), 0.679(IIFS) 1 st July, 2017 Page No: 1 Web: www.irjms.in Email: irjms2015@gmail.com, irjms.in@gmail.com Biodegradability and Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Crotonaldehyde Diurea in Wheat Jadhav N.R. 1 , Kachare D.P. 2 , Satbhai R.D. 3 ,Naik R.M 4 1 PG Student, 2 Associate Professor, 3 Senior research assistant, 4 Professor and Head 1,2,3,4 Department Biochemistry, Mahatma Phule Agricultural University, Rahuri-413722 Abstract A field experiment was conducted to test the efficacy of Rhodococcus spp for biodegradability of crotonaldehyde diurea and its N use efficiency in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)”at different critical growth stages and five treatments of nitrogen. The soil sample was collected and attempted to isolate the Rhodococcus spp. on selective medium. The Rhodococcus spp. showed profuse growth in a medium containing 0.1 % urea and slightly less profuse growth on the medium containing 0.1 % CDU as a sole nitrogen source. The CDU contained ammonical and nitrate nitrogen 19.6 and 13.0 %, respectively. It thus appeared that the soil microorganism Rhodococcus spp. can utilize the CDU probably suggesting that microorganism could have enzymatic activity which can degrade CDU. The activity of nitrate assimilating enzyme was assayed from the leaf tissues at four critical stages showed that the treatment T5 (100 % CDU) recorded highest activities of NR, NiR, and GS, high nitrogen up take, high NUE and higher grain yield. Thus it appeared that Crotonaldehyde Diurea (CDU) is biodegradable by the Rhodococcus spp. present in the soil rhizosphere and applied once at the time of sowing. Key words: Crotonaldehye Diurea, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Wheat, Rhodococcus spp. Nitrate Assimilating Enzymes INTRODUCTION The nitrogen is the major nutrients for the crop plants that can be derived from the soil organic and inorganic commercial fertilizers applied by the farmers. In plant nutrition, soil and plants are two antagonistic systems that compete for the nutrients available in or applied to the soil. This competition is the main reason why only a portion of nutrients is taken up and used by the plant and crops grown, while another portion is immobilized in the soil or lost by denitrification/volatization and leaching. The fertilizer industry has developed special types of fertilizers and fertilizer modification which avoid or at least reduce such losses through the use of foliar fertilizers and slow and controlled nutrient release fertilizers. A more practical route is the use of nitrogen fertilizer which releases the nutrient according to the plants’ requirement. The microbial degradable N-product such as urea– formaldehydes (UFs and other urea-aldehyde composition) are commonly referred to in the trade as slow release fertilizers and coated or encapsulated products as controlled– release fertilizer. Cyclodiurea was first patented as a slow-release fertilizer in 1959. The Chisso Corporation developed an economic, continuous industrial process to produce CDU from acetaldehyde and urea in 1962(Hauck and Koshino 1971) CDU is produced in Japan using the Chissoasahi process (acetaldehyde+urea) but, in Germany, BASF use crotonaldehyde + urea. The molecule has a cyclic structure and is formed by the acid-catalyzed reaction of urea and acetaldehyde. CDU decomposed by both hydrolysis and microbial processes in the soil, and temperature, soil moisture and biological activity affect the rate of release. The degradation is slower than that of IBDU (Isobutyraldehyde urea), even in acid soils. As with IBDU, the particle brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by International Research Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies (IRJMS)