Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effects of different types of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers

on rice yield

WU Qiong, WANG Yu-hui, DING Yan-feng, TAO Wei-ke, GAO Shen, LI Quan-xin, LI Wei-wei, LIU
Zheng-hui, LI Gang-hua

Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production/National Engineering and Technology Center for Information
Agricultrue/Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095,
P.R.China

Abstract
This experiment explored the effects of single application of seven types of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers on rice
yield and various population characteristics. Based on a study of the nitrogen (N) release characteristics of these fertilizers,
pot experiments were conducted in 2018 and 2019 with split fertilization (CK, urea applied split equally at basal and panicle
initiation stages, respectively) as control, which assessed the effects on SPAD value, yield and yield components, dynamic
changes of rice tillers and dry matter accumulation. The results showed that the N release characteristics of different types
of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers were significantly different. Polymer-coated urea (PCU) showed a controlled-
release mode and provided sustained release throughout the whole growth stages. Sulfur-coated urea (SCU) exhibited
a slow-release mode, providing insufficient release at the middle and late stages. Urease inhibitor urea (AHA) and urea-
formaldehyde (UF) yielded a rapid-release mode, with an explosive N release at the early stage and no release at the
middle and late stages. These results showed that PCU delayed the peak seedling stage. Compared with CK, dry matter
accumulation and SPAD showed no significant differences, and due to the continuous release of N throughout the growth
stages, rice yield, spikelets per panicle, seed setting rate, and 1 000-grain weight were all increased. Owing to the lack of
N supply at the late stage and the low number of spikelets, SCU led to a reduction of rice yield, which is nevertheless not
statistically significant. AHA and UF were susceptible to environmental factors and had varying effects on rice yield. The
results of this experiment indicated that given a fixed amount of N applied in a pot, the stronger the N supply capacity and
the longer the effective duration time of the fertilizer, the higher the dry matter accumulation at the late growth stage, and
the higher the rice yield.

Keywords: slow- and controlled-release fertilizers, fertilizer types, rice yield, fertilizer release characteristics

1. Introduction
Received 10 April, 2020 Accepted 3 September, 2020
WU Qiong, E-mail: 2017101036@njau.edu.cn; Correspondence LI
Agriculture is the foundation of national economy, and
Gang-hua, Tel/Fax: +86-25-84396475, E-mail: lgh@njau.edu.cn
rice has always been dominant in the production and
© 2021 CAAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open
consumption of grains in China. By 2019, rice planting
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). area accounted for 25.8% of the planting area of food crops
doi: 10.1016/S2095-3119(20)63406-2 in China (NBSC 2019). In developing countries, fertilizer
1504 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514
plays an important role in increasing rice production as
it is estimated that about 55% of the increase in food
production comes from the effect of fertilizers (Horie et al.
1999; Erisman et al. 2008). Over the past several decades,
conventional fertilizer application for rice, mostly divided into
3–4 applications and consisted of basal and top-dressing,
is a high-demand, time-consuming and labor-intensive
approach. This method might cause the loss of nutrients,
which could lead to a series of environmental problems
such as eutrophication and greenhouse effects (Shi et al.
2012; Zhao et al. 2012; Han et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2015).
The emergence of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers
(SCRF) provides a new option for more efficient fertilization
of rice. Compared with urea, SCRF with regulated release
of nutrients is considered an effective way to satisfy crops’
nutrient demand during the whole growth stage with a single
basal application (Stewart et al. 2005; Chen et al. 2008;
Carson et al. 2014; Timilsena et al. 2015). According to
production process, SCRF can be divided into three main
types: coated fertilizers, stable fertilizers and chemically-
synthesized organic fertilizers (Azeem et al. 2014; Timilsena
et al. 2015). Coated fertilizers are formed by applying or
wrapping a layer of inorganic or organic matter on the
granule surface, such as sulfur-coated fertilizers (SCU) and
polymer-coated fertilizers (PCU). Nutrients from SCU are
released through the micropores on the coating material
and the cracks that develop after the sulfur film is broken.
However, the sulfur material itself is inelastic and fragile,
which may cause incomplete coating or cracks. SCU are
prone to “burst release” at a certain stage, with a release
period of 30–90 days (Gu et al. 2011; Xu et al. 2016). In
contrast, PCU controls the release through the osmotic
adjustment of semipermeable or impermeable membranes
with micropores. As a result, the release will be more
precise and can even be synchronized with rice absorption
efficiently, if soil temperature and humidity conditions are
suitable. Stable fertilizers are mainly produced by adding
urease inhibitor, nitrification inhibitor or other materials that
slow the release of fertilizers, such as urease inhibitor urea
(AHA). Of these, urease inhibitor and nitrification inhibitor
can delay fertilier release by competing with urea through
a sulfhydryl reaction and inhibiting nitrification thanks to its
toxicity to nitrifying bacteria, respecively (Xu et al. 2001;
Li et al. 2009; Hou et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2019). The
release period of stable fertilizers depends on soil conditions,
and is usually short, resulting in unstable applications.
The chemically-synthesized organic fertilizers mainly
consist of urea-formaldehyde fertilizers produced by the
polycondensation reaction of urea and formaldehyde, and
act to enhance the soil microbial activity and root vitality. The
most widely used urea-formaldehyde (UF) releases nutrients
through microbial decomposition, affected by size, microbial
activity, soil texture, and pH (Shaviv 2001).
There have been many studies on the effects of slow-
and controlled-release fertilizer application on rice yield (Li
et al. 2013; Peng et al. 2013; Ye et al. 2013; Geng et al.
2015; Ke et al. 2018). Li et al. (2017) suggested that
compared with the standard application of urea, the partial
productivity under a single carbon-based slow-release
urea treatment was significantly increased by 3.3–7.2%.
Sun et al. (2019) showed that a single application of PCU
that reduced the amount of fertilization could increase
yield by 6.0–21.0% compared with the application of urea.
Compared to conventional urea, increases of 8.6 and
1.2% were reported in rice yield by using PCU and SCU,
respectively (Ke et al. 2017). Wei et al. (2018) reported that
different slow- and controlled-release fertilizers showed the
relative effectiveness of UF>PCU>SCU in terms of grain
yield, of which the yield under UF treatment was 5.0–6.9%
and 12.3–13.7% higher than that under PCU treatment and
SCU treatment, respectively. The above results indicated
that using slow- and controlled-release fertilizers not only
reduced the total amount of fertilizer application, but also
improved rice yield (Wang et al. 2010, 2014; Jing et al. 2016).
Previous experiments have only focused on the practical
application of various slow- and controlled-release fertilizers
in terms of application rate, and the effects on rice yield
and yield components. However, relatively few studies
have compared the effects of different types of slow- and
controlled-release fertilizers on rice yield, and there is a
lack of research on the characteristics of fertilizer nutrient
release and crop absorption and utilization. Therefore, a
pot experiment was conducted to examine the N release
characteristics of seven different slow- and controlled-
release fertilizers, and their impacts on rice grain yields and
yield components, in order to provide a theoretical basis for
their further use.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Experimental site and fertilizers
The experiments were conducted in 2018 and 2019 in
Danyang County, Jangsu Province, China (31°54´N,
119°28´E). Seven different SCRF were selected for the
experiment, including polymer-coated urea (PCU1, PCU2
and PCU3), sulfur-coated urea (SCU1 and SCU2), urease
inhibitor urea (AHA), and urea-formaldehyde (UF). The
names, sources, N contents, and characteristics of the
fertilizers are shown in Table 1. Furthermore, PCU1, PCU2,
PCU3, SCU1, and SCU2 were all wrapped in organic or
inorganic material on their surfaces, with a difference in the
thickness of coating material. The thicker the coating, the
longer the release period. The release periods of PCU1,
 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514
PCU2, PCU3, SCU1, and SCU2 are 60, 90, 120, 60, and
90 days, respectively.
2.2. Experimental design
The experiment was conducted in pots with an inner
diameter of 34 cm and a height of 35 cm. The pots were filled
with soil up to 25 cm height and of 15 kg weight. Local paddy
soil was used to fill the pots, which contained 1.12 g N kg–1,
0.47 g P kg–1 and 1.95 g K kg–1. Before transplanting, the
pots were filled with water and the soil was mixed thoroughly
to make it homogeneous. Seeds were sown on 18 May
2018 and 27 May 2019, and seedlings were transplanted on
6 June 2018 and 15 June 2019. Each pot contained three
hills with three seedlings per hill. Slow- and controlled-
release fertilizer treatments were applied at a rate of 2.0 g
N once, and P and K were applied as a basal application at
rates of 1.0 g (P2O5) and 1.6 g (K2O) per pot, respectively.
Urea as the control treatment (CK) was applied split equally
at basal stage and panicle initiation stage, respectively.
Crop management was consistent with local management
practices for conventional and high-yield cultivation.
2.3. Sampling and analysis
N release characteristics of slow- and controlled-release
fertilizers N release from slow- and controlled-release
fertilizers was studied in field and laboratory.
(1) In field: A soil embedding method was used to
investigate N release from the applied fertilizers. The
fertilizer weighed (10±0.01) g was placed into a nylon mesh
bag (12 cm×8 cm) with a hole diameter of 1.0 mm, strung
onto a line and then buried in field. The bags were buried
5–8 cm below the soil surface. Three bags were sampled
each time at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 (panicle initiation stage),
80 (heading stage), and 120 days (maturity stage) after
incubation. Samples collected were washed with distilled
water to remove impurities and were placed in an oven
for drying at 30°C until constant weight. They were then
weighed and the N loss was calculated.
(2) In laboratory: The hydrostatic dissolution rate method
was adopted in a laboratory setting to study N release from
Table 1 Name and nitrogen content of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers
Name Abbreviation Nitrogen content (%)
60 days polymer-coated urea PCU1
90 days polymer-coated urea PCU2
120 days polymer-coated urea PCU3
60 days sulfur-coated urea SCU1
90 days sulfur-coated urea SCU2
Urease inhibitor urea AHA
Urea formaldehyde UF
1505
the applied fertilizers. The fertilizer weighed (10±0.01) g
was placed into a nylon mesh bag (12 cm×8 cm) with
a hole diameter of 1.0 mm. The bags were placed in a
300-mL plastic bottle with a lid. The bottle was filled with
250 mL distilled water and maintained at a constant
temperature of 25°C in an incubator. Three bottles of water
samples were collected each time at 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30,
40, 50 (panicle initiation stage), 80 (heading stage), and
120 days (maturity stage) after incubation in water. These
bags were washed several times with the same amount of
distilled water, then also collected the water. The NO3−-N
and NH4+-N concentrations of the water samples were
determined using a continuous flow analyzer (Model AA3,
Bran-Luebbe, Hamburg, Germany).
Plant sampling and analysis During the growth period, five
pots of rice with the same growth status were selected for
each treatment to investigate the dynamic changes of tillers.
The top 3rd leaf is typically considered as very sensitive
to soil N supply, and its SPAD value is most relevant to N
content in rice (Li et al. 2005). Therefore, five pots with the
same growth status were selected for each treatment, and
the chlorophyll meter SPAD-502 (Minolta, Japan) was used
to determine the relative chlorophyll content (SPAD) of the
top 3rd leaf of the main stem. SPAD values were measured
three times at the upper, middle and lower positions and the
average value was calculated. Three pots with the same
growth status were selected for each treatment at 10, 20,
30, 40, 55 (panicle initiation stage), 80 (heading stage),
and 120 days (maturity stage) after transplanting. Stems
(culms+sheaths), leaves and panicles were separated
and oven-dried at 105°C for 30 min, followed by drying at
80°C to a constant weight, and dry matter weight was then
measured.
Three pots were selected by considering the average
panicles at maturity stage to investigate yield and yield
components, such as panicles, spikelets per panicle, seed
setting rate, and 1 000-grain weight.
2.4. Statistical analysis
Microsoft Excel 2016 Software was used to organize the
data. Origin 2018 was used to construct the graphs. Data
Composition material
43 Polymer wrapped urea
43 Polymer wrapped urea
43 Polymer wrapped urea
37 Sulfur wrapped urea
34 Sulfur wrapped urea
28 Urease inhibitor added into urea
18 Polycondensation reaction of urea and formaldehyde
1506 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514

were analyzed statistically using SPSS 21.0 Software,
and means of the treatments were compared by the least
significant difference (LSD) test at the 0.05 probability level.
3. Results
3.1. Release characteristics
Significant differences were observed in the N release
characteristics of different slow- and controlled-release
fertilizers both in soil and water (Fig. 1). By 20 days after
incubation, the N release rates of PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3
(Fig. 1-A–C, E–G) were 30.3–59.6%, 18.0–37.3% and
16.0–18.1%, respectively. PCU showed a trend of partial
release at the early stage and sustained release at the
later stage. Its peak of N release appeared at 20–80 days
after incubation. The overall release characteristic of PCU
presented a controlled-release mode. The N release rate
of SCU (Fig. 1-I and J) reached 60–70% by 40 days after
incubation, showing that most of the release was at the early
stage. An overall slow-release mode was observed. More
than 85% of the N releases of AHA (Fig. 1-D and H) and
UF (Fig. 1-K) were observed at the early stage, showing
an explosive release at the early stage and no release at
the late stage. This presented a rapid-release mode. The
relative N release periods of the three controlled-release
fertilizers were PCU1<PCU2<PCU3. The nutrient release
rates of the slow-release fertilizers SCU1 and SCU2 by
120 days after incubation were 75.0–77.1% and 70.0–
72.1%, respectively. The release period of SCU2 was longer
than that of SCU1. There was no significant difference
between two rapid-release fertilizers AHA and UF. The N
release rate of fertilizer in soil conditions was faster than
that in water conditions (25°C) for both years. No significant
differences were seen in N release rates of the rapid-release
fertilizers between the two different conditions, but the
controlled- and slow-release fertilizers were greatly affected
by environment. In 25°C water, the N release rate of PCU
and SCU by day 80 reached 63.9–73.4% and 57.1–61.7%,
and about 82.6 and 69.3% of which were observed in soil
conditions, respectively.
3.2. SPAD value
The SPAD values of rice with different types of slow- and
controlled-release fertilizer treatments varied significantly

In soil In water
100
2018 A B C D
80
Nitrogen release

60
rate (%)

40
PCU1 PCU2 PCU3 AHA
20
0
100
2019 E F G H
80
Nitrogen release

60
rate (%)

40
PCU1 PCU2 PCU3 AHA
20
0
100 I
2019 J K 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
80 Incubation time (d)
Nitrogen release

60
rate (%)

40
SCU1 SCU2 UF
20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Incubation time (d) Incubation time (d) Incubation time (d)

Fig. 1 Nitrogen release rates of different slow- and controlled-release fertilizers in soil and water (%). PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3,
polymer-coated urea with 60, 90 and 120 days releasing periods, respectively; AHA, urease inhibitors urea; SCU1 and SCU2,
sulfur-coated urea with 60 and 90 days releasing periods, respectively; UF, urea-formaldehyde. Vertical bars indicate mean
standard errors of three replicates.
 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514 1507

across growth stages (Fig. 2). Overall, the SPAD values
of rice treated with rapid-release fertilizers (Fig. 2-D, H and
K) and slow-release fertilizers (Fig. 2-I and J) generally
decreased steadily during the growth stages, and those
under controlled-release fertilizers (Fig. 2-A–C, E–G) picked
up slightly at the heading stage. Under the CK treatment,
SPAD value fluctuated significantly, and there was an
obvious increasing trend at the heading stage. The SPAD
values of rice leaves under slow- and controlled-release
fertilizer treatments were significantly higher than those
under CK at the tillering stage, but lower than CK after
panicle initiation stage, especially in 2018. Comparing the
three types, at 30 days after transplanting, the SPAD values
under AHA and UF treatments were significantly higher than
those under SCU and PCU, shown as a relative sequence
of AHA=UF>SCU>PCU. Then, until panicle initiation
stage, the SPAD values decreased under the AHA and UF
treatments, but increased under the PCU treatment. The
relative SPAD values at the panicle initiation stage were
as follows: AHA=UF>PCU>SCU. The SPAD values under
the AHA and UF treatments continued to decrease until
heading stage. Since PCU continued to release N whereas
the releases from AHA, UF and SCU were insufficient at
the late stage, the relative SPAD values were as follows:
PCU>AHA=UF>SCU.
3.3. Rice yield and yield components
Different types of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers had
a significant effect on rice yield (Tables 2 and 3). Compared
with CK, controlled-release fertilizers could significantly
increase rice yield, while slow-release fertilizers could
slightly reduce the yield. The yields under PCU in 2018 and
2019 were 108.1 and 114.1 g/pot, respectively, which were
higher than those under SCU, AHA and UF. The yield under
PCU1 was lower than that under PCU2 and PCU3, due to
lower spikelets per panicle. Analysis of yield components
found that the number of pikelets per panicle under PCU
was significantly higher than that under CK. Given that
there was no significant difference in other components,
the yield under PCU was significantly higher than that under
CK. The yield under SCU was significantly lower than that
under CK because the panicles and total spikelets under
SCU were reduced depite there was no significant difference
in spikelets per panicle and seed setting rate between
SCU and CK. The panicles, total spikelets and 1 000-grain

CK SCRF
50
A B C D
45
40 2018
35
SPAD

30
25 PCU1 PCU2 PCU3 AHA
20
15
10
50 E F G H
45
40
35
SPAD

30 2019
25 PCU1 PCU2 PCU3 AHA
20
15
10
50
I J K 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
45
40 Days after transplanting (d)
35
SPAD

30 2019
25 SCU1 SCU2 UF
20
15
10
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Days after transplanting (d) Days after transplanting (d) Days after transplanting (d)

Fig. 2 Dynamic changes of SPAD values of the top 3rd leaf of rice subjected to different slow- and controlled-release fertilizers.
CK, urea as control; SCRF, slow- and controlled-release fertilizers. PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3, polymer-coated urea with 60, 90 and
120 days releasing periods, respectively; AHA, urease inhibitors urea; SCU1 and SCU2, sulfur-coated urea with 60 and 90 days
releasing periods, respectively; UF, urea-formaldehyde. Vertical bars indicate mean standard errors of three replicates.
1508 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514

Table 2 Effects of different fertilizer treatments on rice yield and yield components in 2018
Grain yield Spikelets/ Total spikelets Seed setting 1 000-grain
Fertilizer type1) Panicles/pot
(g/pot) panicle (×103/pot) rate (%) weight (g)
CK 86.2±10.0 B 26±3.6 A 160±9.2 A 4.2±0.5 A 85.7±1.3 A 20.9±0.2 B
Controlled-release fertilizers
PCU1 111.6±1.4 b 33±1.0 a 136±2.0 b 4.5±0.1 a 93.4±0.7 a 22.9±0.1 c
PCU2 95.0±3.7 c 29±1.0 b 142±3.5 b 4.1±0.2 b 85.7±1.3 b 23.1±0.1 b
PCU3 117.7±1.4 a 25±2.3 c 184±17.3 a 4.5±0.0 a 93.3±0.6 a 24.0±0.1 a
Mean 108.1±10.4 A 29±3.9 A 154±24.3 A 4.4±0.2 A 90.8±3.9 A 23.3±0.5 A
Rapid-release fertilizers
AHA 78.5±5.5 B 25±2.6 A 128±16.8 A 3.2±0.2 B 89.7±5.1 A 23.8±0.0 A
1)
CK, urea as control; PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3, polymer-coated urea with 60, 90 and 120 days releasing periods, respectively; AHA,
urease inhibitor urea.
Data are means and standard errors of three replicates. Different uppercase letters in the same column indicate that there are
significant differences among the different types of fertilizers at the 0.05 level, different lowercase letters in the same column indicate
statistical significance at the 0.05 level among the different fertilizers of the same type.

Table 3 Effects of different fertilizer treatments on rice yield and yield components in 2019
Grain yield Spikelets/ Total spikelets Seed setting 1 000-grain
Fertilizer type1) Panicles/pot
(g/pot) panicle (×103/pot) rate (%) weight (g)
CK 83.1±10.5 B 35±4.4 B 86±2.1 B 3.0±0.4 B 91.5±0.7 A 25.9±0.2 B
Controlled-release fertilizers
PCU1 98.6±15.4 a 33±3.0 a 102±7.4 b 3.4±0.5 a 91.3±4.3 a 27.4±0.2 b
PCU2 127.6±13.7 a 40±5.1 a 113±5.1 ab 4.5±0.5 a 89.9±3.2 a 27.4±0.3 b
PCU3 116.0±20.7 a 32±3.0 a 123±10.0 a 4.0±0.7 a 90.7±2.9 a 27.8±0.1 a
Mean 114.1±19.3 A 35±4.9 B 113±11.2 A 4.0±0.7 A 90.6±3.1 A 27.6±0.3 A
Slow-release fertilizers
SCU1 65.8±10.4 a 26±2.5 a 88±9.5 a 2.3±0.4 a 91.5±3.9 a 27.4±0.1 a
SCU2 71.5±6.6 a 29±2.1 a 84±4.4 a 2.5±0.2 a 89.9±2.4 a 27.8±0.2 a
Mean 68.6±8.4 B 28±2.9 C 86±6.9 B 2.4±0.3 C 90.7±3.0 A 27.6±0.2 A
Rapid-release fertilizers
AHA 93.6±7.3 a 47±5.0 a 79±4.0 a 3.7±0.4 a 81.5±2.5 b 26.6±0.1 b
UF 114.6±7.4 a 45±5.8 a 92±8.2 a 4.1±0.2 a 85.2±2.4 a 27.9±0.2 a
Mean 104.1±13.3 A 46±4.9 A 86±9.0 B 3.9±0.4 A 83.4±3.0 B 27.3±0.8 A
1)
CK, urea as control; PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3, polymer-coated urea with 60, 90 and 120 days releasing periods, respectively; SCU1
and SCU2, sulfur-coated urea with 60 and 90 days releasing periods, respectively; AHA, urease inhibitor urea; UF, urea-formaldehyde.
Data are means and standard errors of three replicates. Different uppercase letters in the same column indicate that there are
significant differences among the different types of fertilizers at the 0.05 level, different lowercase letters in the same column indicate
statistical significance at the 0.05 level among the different fertilizers of the same type.

weight under UF were significantly higher than those under
CK. Therefore, the rice yield under UF was still higher than
that under CK, though UF showed a significantly lower
seed setting rate than CK. The effects of AHA on rice yield
were different between two years. The experiment in 2018
showed that AHA had a significantly lower number of total
spikelets than CK, which led to a reduction in yield, despite
that the 1 000-grain weight under AHA was higher than that
under CK. The number of panicles under AHA in 2019 was
significantly higher than that under CK. This increased the
total spikelets to compensate for the adverse impact of
lower seed setting rate, which ultimately increased rice yield.
3.4. Dynamic changes of rice tillers
Different types of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers
significantly affected rice tillers at different stages (Fig. 3).
Overall, dynamic changes of the tillers under SCU (Fig. 3-I
and J) were basically consistent with those under CK, while
those under PCU (Fig. 3-A–C, E–G), AHA (Fig. 3-D and
H) and UF (Fig. 3-K) showed significant differences with
those under CK.
Compared with CK, PCU increased slowly at
20 days after transplantation, especially PCU3 (Fig. 3-C and
G). This might be due to the slow release of N at the early
stage from PCU, thus inhibiting the occurrence of tillering in
rice. Then, the tillers of PCU1 and PCU2 increased rapidly
at the middle stage, while the tillers of PCU3 still occurred
slowly, which might be caused by the delayed release of N
from PCU3 compared with PCU1 and PCU2. Compared
with those under CK, the tillers under PCU1 and PCU2
were significantly higher, while those under PCU3 had no
significant difference, after heading stage, especially in
2019. In addition, PCU significantly delayed peak seedling
 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514 1509

CK SCRF
70
2018 A B C D
60
Tiller density/pot

50
40
30
20
PCU1 PCU2 PCU3 AHA
10
0
70 2019 E G H
60 F
Tiller density/pot

50
40
30
20
PCU1 PCU2 PCU3 AHA
10
0
70 2019 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
60 I J K
Days after transplanting (d)
Tiller density/pot

50
40
30
20
SCU1 SCU2 UF
10
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Days after transplanting (d) Days after transplanting (d) Days after transplanting (d)

Fig. 3 Dynamic changes of rice tillers in plants subjected to different slow- and controlled-release fertilizers. CK, urea as control;
SCRF, slow- and controlled-release fertilizers. PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3, polymer-coated urea with 60, 90 and 120 days releasing
periods, respectively; AHA, urease inhibitors urea; SCU1 and SCU2, sulfur-coated urea with 60 and 90 days releasing periods,
respectively; UF, urea-formaldehyde. Vertical bars indicate mean standard errors of three replicates.

stage, which might be related to its high N release at this
stage.
In general, the dynamic changes of rice tillers under
PCU included: slow occurrence of the tillers at the early
and middle stages, significiant increase in the tillers at the
later stage, and delayed peak seedling stage. Following
the first 20 days after transplanting, the dynamic changes
of rice tillers under AHA (Fig. 3-D and H) and UF (Fig. 3-K)
were the same as those under CK. After that, tillers occurred
rapidly under AHA and UF and were noticeably higher than
those under CK at the panicle initiation stage.
3.5. Dry matter accumulation
Different types of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers
affected dry matter accumulation remarkably at the main
rice growth stages (Tables 4 and 5). Compared with CK,
the application of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers
significantly increased dry matter accumulation. Slow-
release fertilizers had the highest level of dry matter
accumulation at the tillering stage, followed by rapid-
release fertilizers, while controlled-release fertilizers had
the lowest level. However, the relative level of dry matter
accumulation at the panicle initiation stage was rapid-
release fertilizers>slow-release fertilizers>controlled-release
fertilizers. From panicle initiation to maturity stage, the dry
matter accumulation under controlled-release fertilizers
gradually increased, and even exceeded that under rapid-
release fertilizers for both years.
In 2018, from transplanting to panicle initiation stage,
the dry matter accumulation under PCU3 in controlled-
release fertilizers was significantly lower than those under
PCU1 and PCU2, with little difference at the later stage.
In 2019, there were no significant differences in the dry
matter accumulation under PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3 during
the whole growth stage. The dry matter accumulation of
slow-release and rapid-release fertilizers had no significant
differences for both years.
4. Discussion
4.1. N release characteristics of slow- and controlled-
release fertilizers, and nitrogen uptake of rice
The N release characteristics of different types of slow-
and controlled-release fertilizers showed large differences
1510 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514

(Fig. 1). These differences were mainly related to the outer
material of the fertilizer particles and the formulations of
the fertilizers. At the same time, the N releasing ability of
the fertilizers was susceptible to soil moisture, bulk density
and microbial activity (Raban and Shaviv 1995; Xue et al.
2013; Naz and Sulaiman 2016). Studies have shown that
the release of N from UF depends on the decomposition
by microorganisms. Urease inhibitor urea delayed the
hydrolysis of urea to ammonium N by inhibiting the activity
of urease, thereby slowing the release of N. However, the
effect was unstable as it was susceptible to soil properties
and external conditions (temperature, humidity, etc.)
(Zhang et al. 2019). SCU could not meet the N absorption
requirement at the late stage of crop growth as its sulfur
coating was easily broken. Quality of sulfur coating and
outer sealing material would also affect the release period
of SCU (Gu et al. 2011). At the same time, previous
studies reported that PCU controlled the release process in
membrane through the osmotic adjustment effect of polymer
coating, where the release of N was controllable, and the
duration was long (Azeem et al. 2014; Xing et al. 2015; Miao
et al. 2016; Ke et al. 2017). Our experiment reached similar
conclusions. The N release rates (Fig. 1-D, H and K) of
AHA and UF at the early stage after transplanting reached
more than 80%, and no N release was observed thereafter,
showing that the slow-release effect had not been achieved.
But from tillering to heading stage, the rice tillers (Fig. 3-H
and K) and dry matter accumulation (Table 5) under AHA
and UF were significantly higher than those under CK, thus
showing that the effective N supply under AHA and UF still

Table 4 Effects of different fertilizer treatments on dry matter accumulation of rice in 2018
Dry matter accumulations (g/pot)
Fertilizer type1) Tillering stage Panicle Heading Maturity
10 DAT 20 DAT 30 DAT initiation stage stage stage
CK 5.6±0.2 A 19.0±2.5 AB 30.9±2.0 A 43.1±2.0 A 124.3±5.5 A 154.7±31.4 B
Controlled-release fertilizers
PCU1 6.5±1.0 a 22.4±2.0 a 33.0±0.2 a 59.6±3.7 a 135.8±5.9 a 229.1±26.3 a
PCU2 6.1±1.0 b 15.1±1.0 b 30.3±2.0 b 50.9±5.4 b 136.8±11.3 a 227.0±12.8 a
PCU3 3.5±0.5 c 8.1±1.0 c 17.0±1.0 c 40.0±2.6 c 113.7±15.7 a 233.7±6.7 a
Mean 5.4±0.6 A 15.2±6.3 B 26.8±7.5 A 50.2±9.2 A 128.8±15.2 A 229.9±15.3 A
Rapid-release fertilizers
AHA 3.3±0.3 B 24.3±1.0 A 30.4±1.0 A 48.6±1.1 A 98.8±3.9 B 178.2±5.8 B
1)
CK, urea as control; PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3, polymer-coated urea with 60, 90 and 120 days releasing periods, respectively; AHA,
urease inhibitor urea.
Data are means and standard errors of three replicates. Different uppercase letters in the same column indicate that there are
significant differences among the different types of fertilizers at the 0.05 level, different lowercase letters in the same column indicate
statistical significance at the 0.05 level among the different fertilizers of the same type.

Table 5 Effects of different fertilizer treatments on dry matter accumulation of rice in 2019
Dry matter accumulations (g/pot)
Fertilizer type1) Tillering stage Panicle Heading Maturity
10 DAT 20 DAT 30 DAT 40 DAT initiation stage stage stage
CK 1.3±0.1 A 6.4±1.5 AB 20.8±2.0 AB 30.1±1.9 B 42.5±2.9 C 97.9±11.7 B 137.5±21.4 B
Controlled-release fertilizers
PCU1 1.5±0.1 a 5.8±1.7 a 20.0±5.6 a 32.7±6.3 a 50.9±3.6 a 118.9±13.0 a 202.3±8.0 ab
PCU2 1.2±0.2 a 5.8±4.4 a 17.3±2.7 a 29.1±3.4 a 51.6±5.4 a 118.3±16.1 a 248.5±22.3 a
PCU3 1.3±0.2 a 3.9±1.0 a 12.0±3.7 a 17.2±2.7 b 28.1±4.5 b 92.6±15.6 a 195.8±33.4 b
Mean 1.3±0.2 A 5.2±2.6 B 16.4±5.0 B 26.3±8.0 B 43.5±12.2 C 109.9±18.4 B 215.6±32.2 A
Slow-release fertilizers
SCU1 1.7±0.6 a 8.8±3.9 a 19.1±1.3 a 32.4±3.0 a 62.4±3.6 a 102.0±11.3 a 135.4±7.2 a
SCU2 1.9±0.6 a 8.5±1.4 a 24.6±3.1 a 36.6±0.5 a 63.6±0.0 a 114.8±1.3 a 137.3±9.2 a
Mean 1.8±0.5 A 8.6±2.6 A 21.9±3.6 AB 34.5±3.0 B 63.0±2.3 B 108.4±10.1 B 136.3±7.5 B
Rapid-release fertilizers
AHA 2.1±0.5 a 6.1±1.1 a 23.4±4.8 a 50.9±10.1 a 84.6±12.2 a 198.0±16.4 a 213.3±5.0 a
UF 1.3±0.1 a 6.3±0.5 a 26.7±1.5 a 44.5±5.6 a 70.0±5.7 a 134.8±15.1 a 227.8±11.6 a
Mean 1.7±0.6 A 6.2±0.8 AB 25.1±3.6 A 47.7±8.1 A 77.3±11.7 A 166.4±37.4 A 220.5±11.3 A
1)
CK, urea as control; PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3, polymer-coated urea with 60, 90 and 120 days releasing periods, respectively; SCU1
and SCU2, sulfur-coated urea with 60 and 90 days releasing periods, respectively; AHA, urease inhibitor urea; UF, urea-formaldehyde.
Data are means and standard errors of three replicates. Different uppercase letters in the same column indicate that there are
significant differences among the different types of fertilizers at the 0.05 level, different lowercase letters in the same column indicate
statistical significance at the 0.05 level among the different fertilizers of the same type.
 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514
existed at the middle and late stages. The N release rate
(Fig. 1-I and J) of SCU at the early stage after transplanting
was about 40%, while reached to about 60% by 50 days
after incubation. The tillers (Fig. 3-I and J) under SCU
were not significantly different from those under CK, which
satisfied the N requirement before panicle initiation stage.
However, SCU demonstrated an insufficient ability to supply
N from panicle initiation to maturity stage, which affected
the reproductive growth of rice. The initial N release of
PCU was slower than that of SCU. The N release rates of
PCU1, PCU2 and PCU3 (Fig. 1-A and E, B and F, C and
G) reached up to 40% at 10, 20 and 50 days, respectively.
PCU exhibited different rates of N release across the growth
stages of rice. The effective duration time of the three PCUs
showed a sequence of: PCU1<PCU2<PCU3. From this
point of view, in the pot experiment, the N release periods
of AHA and UF were different from thier effective duration
times, with the former being shorter than the latter. The N
release periods of SCU and PCU were synchronized with
their effective duration times. This might be because the
N released by either AHA or UF at the early stage was not
absorbed and utilized by rice, so most of it was fixed in soil by
microorganisms. When the soil N supply was inadequate at
the middle and late stages, NH4+ and NO3– stored in soil were
released again, which prolonged the effective duration times
(Qiu et al. 2007; Ni et al. 2014). On the other hand, SCU
and PCU are coated fertilizers. Nutrients concentrate in the
core of these fertilizers and exchange between the inside
and outside through the coating material. In this regard,
there is no process for storing N in soil before releasing it.
The N release characteristics of different types of slow-
and controlled-release fertilizers also significantly affected
the SPAD value of leaves (Fig. 2). Leaves are the most
important photosynthetic organs, and leaf color is a sensitive
indicator of crop growth, metabolism and nutritional status.
In particular, changes in the N nutrition of rice leaves have
significant effects on leaf color (Wang et al. 2002a, b; Xue
et al. 2003). Leaf color is an important diagnostic measure
for seedlings. Leaf color changes are caused by changes in
N uptake by root system (Ling et al. 2005; Zhao et al. 2006).
Studies have found that the leaf color of high-yielding rice
should be ‘two yellows and two blacks’, referring to yellow
leaf color at ineffective tillering and heading stages and
darker color at tillering and panicle initiation stages, which
was conducive to high and stable rice yield (Ling et al. 1994).
In our pot experiment, the SPAD values under the three
types of slow- and controlled-release fertilizers at the tillering
stage were significantly higher than those under CK, which
met the N requirements at tillering stage. From ineffective
tillering to panicle initiation stage, AHA and UF continued to
supply N, and maintained SPAD values (Fig. 2-D, H and K)
at a high level that were significantly higher than CK, and
1511
exhibited no occurrence of leaf yellowing. However, SCU
provided insufficient N supply during the same stages, the
SPAD value (Fig. 2-I and J) showed a downward trend, and
the leaves were yellow and suppressed the occurrence of
invalid tillers, which was beneficial to the growth of thick and
strong panicles. From panicle initiation to heading stage,
PCU showed a slight increase in SPAD value (Fig. 2-A–C,
E–G). However, this fertilizer’s N supply capacity was
limited, and its SPAD value continued to decline, which
was not conducive to panicle development. The differences
between AHA/UF and CK were smaller than those between
SCU and CK. Studies have suggested that an appropriate
supply of N at the tillering stage is conducive to early and
rapid growth of tillers, which in turn increases tillering rate
and percentage of effective tillers. A sufficient N supply from
jointing to heading stage is conducive to the development
of glumous flowers and large spikes (Hu et al. 2014). From
the perspective of rice growth and development, the N
release and effective duration times of slow- and controlled-
release fertilizers must be in line with the requirements of
rice. The results of this experiment indicated that relative
effective duration times of fertilizers were as follows:
PCU>AHA=UF>SCU. Of the four, the later-stage N supply
capacity of PCU, AHA and UF are more conducive to the
growth and development of rice.
4.2. Effects of different types of slow- and controlled-
release fertilizers on rice yield and yield components
Rice yield is determined by panicles, spikelets per panicle,
seed setting rate, and 1 000-grain weight, and also shaped
by dry matter accumulation, distribution, transportation
and transformation of plant population (Wei et al. 2007).
Similarly, increasing total spikelets in the population (effective
panicle×spikelets per panicle) and maintaining a stable seed
setting rate and 1 000-grain weight are important ways to
promote rice yield (Ling et al. 1993; Zhang et al. 2010b;
Li et al. 2013). The SOI model, referring to stabilization,
optimization and intensification during the early, middle and
late phase correspondingly, adopts the ratio of basal-tillering
and panicle initiating fertilizer of 50:50 and applies nitrogen
at a leaf age of remaining leaf primordium number of 4 or 3.
This model is an important way to quantify the cultivation
of super high yield. Therefore, early population formation
and sufficient N supply at the later stage have important
contributions towards rice yield components (Zhang et al.
2010a). In our pot experiment, the different slow- and
controlled-release fertilizers affected the dynamic changes
of rice tillers, SPAD value of leaves, dynamic changes of dry
matter accumulation, rice yield components, and grain yield.
Under the N application of 2 g/pot with CK, the rice yields in
two study years reached 86.2 and 83.1 g/pot, respectively.
1512 WU Qiong et al. Journal of Integrative Agriculture 2021, 20(6): 1503–1514
For the dynamic changes of rice tillers, PCU (Fig. 3-A–C,
E–G) as a whole presented a slower occurrence of tillers
than CK within 20 days after transplanting. Rice tillers
also began to increase slowly after 40 days, which delayed
peak seedling stage, especially in 2019. This difference
might be due to PCU’s slow release of N at the early stage
and continuous supply of N at the middle and late stages.
Therefore, under PCU, there were lower occurrences of
early tillers and ineffective tillers than under CK. There
were no significant differences in N supply, tillers, SPAD
value, or dry matter accumulation between CK and PCU at
the panicle initiation stage. However, a previous study has
shown that PCU had a negative effect on rice yield (Ke et al.
2017). Our experiment reached the opposite conclusion,
possibly due to different experimental conditions, since the
PCU treatment was prone to a lack of N at the late stage.
Although the N release of PCU at the tillering stage was
slower than that of CK, its long effective duration time of N
release in the pot made up for this weakness. Its spikelets
per panicle, seed setting rate and 1 000-grain weight at the
maturity stage were higher than CK, leading to a higher
final yield than CK. The PCU treatment in field often lacked
nutrient, which affected panicles at the early stage. This
was difficult to compensate for at the later stage due to the
loss of N through runoff and the influence of field conditions.
The dynamic changes of rice tillers under SCU were
consistent with those under CK (Fig. 3-I and J). This
indicated that N release of SCU at tillering stage was high,
which effectively promoted early tiller occurrence and the
formation of low-position tillers. Its dry matter accumulation
at tillering stage was found to be higher than CK. However,
its SPAD value after panicle initiation stage was significantly
lower than CK, which indicated that the N supply of SCU was
significantly lower than that of CK, and the single application
could not satisfy the N demand at the later stage of rice. A
previous study has shown that an appropriate increase in
N supply at the heading stage was beneficial for spikelets
per panicle and seed setting rate (Zhang et al. 2013). The
N release of SCU resulted in a small number of effective
panicles at the maturity stage, which reduced total spikelets
and ultimately caused a significantly lower yield than CK.
The AHA and UF (Fig. 3-D, H and K) treatments exhibited
slightly different dynamic changes of rice tillers in the two
years. The experiments in 2019 showed that rice tillers
occurred faster within 20 days after transplanting and peak
seedling stage appeared earlier under AHA and UF than
under CK. The peak seedling numbers obtained under AHF
and UF were significantly higher than those under CK and
other types of fertilizers. The SPAD value also showed the
same pattern. The number of rice tillers began to decrease
rapidly within 30–40 days after transplanting under AHF and
UF. This might be due to their explosive N release at the
early stage, making the early N supply significantly higher
than that of CK and other types of fertilizers followed by
an absence of N release at the late stage. Therefore, the
tillering characteristics of AHF and UF could be described
as: tillers occurred early, but the number of ineffective
tillers was higher. However, due to the advantages of early
growing, the tillers, dry matter weight and effective panicles
under AHF and UF were all significantly higher than those
obtained under CK and other types of fertilizers. In addition,
the final yield under AHF and UF was higher than that under
other types of fertilizers, and significantly higher than that
under CK. However, the experiment in 2018 showed that
the number of tillers under the AHA treatment was relatively
small, which affected the total spikelets at maturity stage and
eventually reduced the yield as compared to CK.
5. Conclusion
The fertilizers tested in these experiments were mainly
divided into three types: controlled-release fertilizers, slow-
release fertilizers and rapid-release fertilizers. Relative
difference in release period of the three types is shown as:
controlled-release>slow-release>rapid-release; but based
on SPAD values, the release period was not equal to the
effective duration time, particularly as the effective duration
time of rapid-release fertilizers could continue until heading
stage. Rice yield increased significantly under controlled-
release fertilizers, while slow-release fertilizers had little
effect on yield, and rapid-release fertilizers had varying
effects on yield as they were susceptible to environmental
factors. Therefore, given a fixed amount of N is applied to
the pot, the stronger the N supply capacity and the longer
the effective duration time of the fertilizer, the higher the
dry matter accumulation at the late growth stage, and the
higher the rice yield.
Acknowledgements
Funding was provided by the National Key Research and
Development Program of China (22017YFD0301203,
2018YFD0300803), the Jiangsu Key Research and
Development Program, China (BE2017369) and the Jiangsu
Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund, China
(CX(18)1002).
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Executive Editor-in-Chief LI Shao-kun
Managing Editor WANG Ning