A NEW line of urea which outyields post-emergent applications of urea by 25 per cent seems unbelievable, but CSBP has made it a reality with its newly-released product Urea Sustain.
It's a testament to its commitment to innovation, with the company also celebrating 100 years of trials and research this year.
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Under certain conditions, up to 30 per cent of nitrogen from untreated urea can be lost via volatilisation as ammonia gas.
But CSBP's Urea Sustain restricts this loss pathway, leaving more nitrogen available to the crop.
The new fertiliser contains two active ingredients - NBPT, a volatilisation inhibitor and DMPP, a nitrification inhibitor - that limit different nitrogen loss pathways in one convenient coating.
The coating also reduces the possibility of nitrogen losses resulting from nitrification and denitrification processes, increasing crop-available nitrogen and limiting potential nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas.
CSBP general manager Mark Scatena said it was a "great reflection" of the company's product innovation focus.
"We're excited about introducing a high efficiency source of nitrogen into the WA market, which is exclusive to us," Mr Scatena said.
After extensive trial work in Three Springs, he believes the coated urea product will provide an improved product on a range of different fronts.
The product is more efficient in terms of nutrient uptake in nitrogen usage, and in application flexibility.
Mr Scatena said the exciting results represented a step change in efficiency from using granular nitrogen.
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"Grain sampling results confirm that the nitrogen uptake of the crop following application of Urea Sustain exceeded that of urea standalone," he said.
"Interestingly, the performance of Urea Sustain was similar to that of Flexi-N, confirming the efficiency benefit of both products."
Urea Sustain increases the timing window for urea application, by reducing the risk of nutrient loss when an application of urea is not followed by a rain event, helping growers manage logistical constraints and confidently make top-up applications.
Ammonia losses are most likely to occur when urea is applied to moist soil without sufficient rainfall to wash it into the soil profile.
In contrast, nitrous oxide losses can occur under anaerobic conditions, such as waterlogging or compaction.
This means the inhibitors in Urea Sustain are most effective at reducing losses in these conditions.
CSBP expects more people to uptake the product overtime, given the drastic performance difference.
This year CSBP will only have a small volume of product available that is exclusive to pre existing customers.
"We will make sure it is made available throughout all parts of the State so a number of our key customers can see this product in action," Mr Scatena said.
The aim is to first introduce the product to the northern and southern central districts, and are confident that next season there will be more demand for CSBP to distribute the product.
Mr Scatena admitted he didn't expect Flexi-N to have such a strong hold on the market when it was first released in the early 2000s, and was hopeful that Urea Sustain would become as popular.
He is confident CSBP has the infrastructure capabilities to support the release of Urea Sustain, as CSBP were optimising storage and dispatch assets.
"We think that one of our competitive advantages is that we have significant storage, and we can introduce new products while leveraging our great infrastructure assets," Mr Scatena said.
Continuing their strong history of trials and research, CSBP will continue to conduct trials on the new Urea Sustain this year, and hope to gather more data about how best to use the product.
"CSBP will include approximately ten trials of Urea Sustain in its Field Research program for the 2023 season to demonstrate its benefits under a range of soil and climatic conditions," he said.
