Plant Nutrients
– Crops need a number of mineral elements for healthy growth.
– The generally accepted number of essential nutrients required is 20, which includes carbon, hydrogen and oxygen as well as 17 other mineral elements which are nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, boron, chlorine, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, zinc, silicon, sodium, cobalt, and vanadium.
– These elements are divided into three groups; Primary Nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium), Secondary Nutrients (calcium, magnesium, sulphur), and Micro-Nutrients (the rest).

Abu Qir Production with Other Nutrients
Abu Qir Fertilizer Company planned to produce urea and ammonium nitrate with various secondary and micronutrients. The aims of this planning were:
1. Improving the chemical properties of urea and ammonium nitrate to give all the types of crops the required nutrients needed to good growth and high productivities and to avoid symptoms of nutrients deficiency.
2. Improving the physical properties which means decreasing its solubility in soil, which thus means avoiding losses of fertilizers and escape deeply in soil away from the plant roots.
3. Achieving fertilizers balancing in the soils by providing it with different types of nutrients.
The main secondary and micro nutrients selected to be added to urea and ammonium nitrate depend on its relevant importance for the plant growth.
These nutrients are:
• Magnesium and sulphur as secondary nutrients.
• Iron, manganese, zinc as the main important micro nutrients.

The main essential requirement for the addition of these nutrients is its addition in the
soluble and ionized form to be absorbed by the plants.

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