The UDP (Urea Deep Placement) technology is a simple, farmer-friendly technology with two key elements (i) a large-sized fertilizer particle of 1-3 grams by weight, referred to as a urea super granule (USG) or briquette, and (ii) point placement of the briquette at 7-10cm depth near the root zone. Through the UDP technology, the avenues for N losses are reduced, and improved N uptake by the plant is possible. Studies have shown that the UDP technology is a highly effective soil nutrient management strategy, enabling farmers to achieve higher crop yields (25-50%) with lower use of fertilizers (15-25%), reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emission (30-85%) by inhibiting nitrification up to seven weeks.
Despite documented agronomic superiority and socio-economic benefits of UDP, the adoption has been stagnant in the developing countries due to additional field operation to hand-press UDP in soil in absence of suitable machinery for which labor, time and human energy are required. Secondly, the UDP was managing the single plant nutrient (N), whereas other plant nutrients were still being broadcast on the soil surface. IFDC along with the national agriculture research system in India has conducted more than 2000 farmer participatory research trials in different agro-ecologies to evaluate the mechanized FDP in rice, mustard, tomato and brinjal crops, using ZT-FDP and PT-FDP machines.
https://ifdc.org/2023/04/18/innovations-in-the-mechanization-of-fertilizer-
deep-placement/
Innovation
Distinct Horizon has patented DH Vriddhi, a tool that helps farmers place
fertilizers deep into the soil, using the Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technique
thereby reducing the use of fertilizers by 30-40 percent while increasing
crop productivity. They developed an applicator, a machine that would place
fertilizers deep into the soil. To develop the overall product, it also worked
with IDEO.org for designing and manufacturing the machine. With a
factory in Lucknow, DH Vriddhi, is designed in a way that can be integrated
with tractors and power-tillers. The design also allows the machine to place
fertilizer pellets at a depth of three inches below the soil and cover an acre in
30-45 minutes and is 60 times more efficient than conventional methods.
Patent(s)
Briquette placement machine, WO2016203496A1 (2016) Inventor-Ayush
NIGAM,Swapnil KUMAR , Arpit DHUPAR ,Rishabh AWASTHI
Deep agricultural implantation device, WO2021019317A1,
(2020), Inventor -Ayush NIGAM ,Santosh Kumar, Vishal Jain, Bheem
Kumar,JAISWAL, Shiv Chandra VERMA
Fertilizer/seeds placement machine, WO2017179074A1 (2016)
Inventor -Ayush NIGAM, Arpit DHUPAR, Swapnil KUMAR, Santosh
Kumar, Vidur VIJ
Deep placement applicator, WO2022034618A1 (2021), Inventor-
Ayush NIGAM, Vishal Jain, Santosh Kumar, Bheem Kumar JAISWAL
,Shiv Chandra VERMA
Commercialisation
After working with farmers across six states for four years, the team learnt
that in order to convince farmers to shift to a much superior practice,
demonstrations must be conducted locally.
https://www.distincthorizon.net/productsGROWiT, Saurabh Agarwal (Mulch film) Sur
