BASF has agreed to supply its Limus fertilizer technology to China’s Kingenta. One of China’s largest fertilizer suppliers, Kingenta will directly promote and sell Limus-treated products in the country from July 2016 onward.

Limus is a urease inhibitor, developed to address the loss of nitrogen in urea-based fertilizers. With conventional fertilizers, only 50% of the available nitrogen is taken up by plants. The excessive loss occurs through volatilization and leaching, processes that are difficult to control, resulting in farmers have to apply more fertilizer which can be costly and have a negative impact on the environment.

According to BASF, Limus can cut volatilization by up to 90%, significantly increasing resource efficiency and potential yield.

Markus Schmid, director global Limus launch at BASF Crop Protection, said the company has invested significantly into R&D to solve the drawbacks of generic urease inhibitors. He added that Limus has an outstanding biological performance through two active ingredients and a longer shelf life due to the polymer technology used in the formulation, providing optimal plant nutrition.