Chelated fertilizer gets its name from its unique production method. Through chelation, multiple elemental components are cleverly combined to form a complex, also known as a chelate. Chemically, this complex has a unique ring structure, in which a macromolecular ligand is bound to a central metal atom. Organic molecules capable of chelating metal ions are called chelators or ligands.
Chelators exhibit unique functions in plant cells. They selectively capture certain metal ions and release them in appropriate amounts when needed. This ability to “escape” metal ions allows crops to more easily and effectively absorb the nutrients they need.
Thus, chelators play a vital role in plants, acting like conductors, meticulously orchestrating the distribution of nutrients between roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruits, ensuring healthy plant growth. For this reason, the use of chelates in fertilizer manufacturing marks another major revolution in agricultural production.
Why Choose Chelated Fertilizers?
Long-term, high-volume application of phosphate fertilizers can lead to soil compaction. This is primarily due to phosphate ions combining with cations such as calcium and magnesium in the soil, forming insoluble phosphates that disrupt the soil’s aggregate structure. However, using chelated trace element fertilizers effectively prevents phosphate ions from reacting with phosphate, sulfate, and organic matter in the soil, thereby alleviating soil compaction.
Compared to inorganic salts, chelated trace elements have significantly higher utilization rates. Even a small amount is needed to produce significant results. Furthermore, chelated trace elements can be flexibly blended with various fertilizers, adjuvants, and conditioners without affecting the performance of other products. They also offer excellent solubility and leave no residue.
Technology and Applications
Chelated calcium, magnesium, boron, and zinc fertilizers, incorporating advanced technologies from Israel and the Netherlands, offer significant advantages. They utilize unique bioresorption and magneto-electric fusion technologies to electrolyze nutrients into fine particles, significantly improving nutrient absorption and reducing loss and decomposition. Furthermore, this chelated fertilizer is based on ecological agricultural theory, combining microbial bioinformation regulation with slow-release and controlled-release technologies. After extensive, multi-site experiments, the result is an ecological fertilizer that not only increases agricultural yields but also improves their quality.
Simply put, chelated fertilizer delivers nitrogen fertilizer in a slow-release and controlled-release manner, while also activating phosphorus and potassium, significantly increasing the utilization rate of trace elements such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, and manganese in the soil.
Plant Growth Effects
Through slow-release and controlled-release technologies, chelated fertilizer releases nutrients in the soil in a balanced manner according to crop requirements, thereby meeting the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium needs of crops at different growth stages. Whether harvesting crops all at once, such as wheat, rice, corn, and fruit trees, or harvesting fruits sequentially, such as cucumbers and tomatoes, chelated fertilizer provides the nutrients needed throughout the entire growth cycle, reducing the need for topdressing, saving manpower and resources, and lowering production costs.
Chelated fertilizer effectively stimulates healthy root growth by promoting photosynthesis and optimizing the complementarity, balance, and coordination of nutrients.
The application of chelated calcium, magnesium, boron, and zinc fertilizers significantly improves crop stress tolerance. These fertilizers not only enhance crop resilience to adverse environmental conditions such as drought, high and low temperatures, and salinity, but also help improve lodging resistance. Furthermore, these fertilizers activate various enzymes within the plant, promoting the breakdown and elimination of pathogens, thereby enhancing crop resistance to pests and diseases, significantly reducing disease incidence, and reducing pesticide use.
Chelated fertilizers combine many of the benefits of organic fertilizers with the added benefit of optimizing soil conditions and maintaining a balanced microbial environment within the plant rhizosphere, thereby increasing crop yields and the quality of agricultural products. For example, they can increase the starch and protein content of grains while improving the sugar content, color, and shelf life of fruits and vegetables.
