Let’s discuss the current standards for chemical fertilizers
Thread Content
There are currently so many standards in use in the fertilizer industry that it’s overwhelming. Through extensive research and monitoring of relevant websites, I’ve found standards such as GB/HB/QB/NY, among others; however, outsiders have no idea what these standards actually entail. **Isn’t there yet a unified standard in this area?**
GB-----**Standard HB-----Chemical industry standard QB----Enterprise standard NY-----Unknown
The names of standards are all abbreviations in Pinyin letters. The most commonly used ones are GB and HB, which represent national standards and industry standards respectively. NY denotes the agricultural sector. There are also other designations such as GB/T; the ‘T’ in this stands for ‘tui’, indicating that it is a recommended standard. For example, GB 21344-2008 refers to a national standard. 21344 is the identifier for this standard, while 2008 indicates the year it was issued – in this case, 2008.
GB-----**National standard** HB-----Chemical industry standard QB----Enterprise standard NY-----Agricultural industry standard. Individual fertilizers generally have their own national standards; the most commonly used ones include the following: GB2440-2001 Urea, GB2946-92 Ammonium chloride, GB535-1995 Ammonium sulfate, GB6549-1996 Potassium chloride, GB 20406-2006 Potassium sulfate for agricultural use, GB 21634-2008 Double superphosphate, GB 20413-2006 Superphosphate, GB10205-2001 Monoammonium phosphate, Diammonium phosphate (these belong to compound fertilizers but can be used as raw materials, so they are classified under raw materials). HG3277-2000 Zinc sulfate for agricultural use. **Standards for compound fertilizers**: GB 15063-2001 Compound fertilizers, GB 21633-2008 Blended fertilizers (BB fertilizers). Standards for foliar fertilizers: GB/T 17419-1998 Amino acid-containing foliar fertilizers, GB/T 17420-1998 Micronutrient-containing foliar fertilizers. **Standards for organic-inorganic compound fertilizers**: GB18877-2002 Organic-inorganic compound fertilizers. Standards for organic fertilizers: NY525-2002 Organic fertilizers. Liquid fertilizers: NY 1106-2006 Humic acid-containing water-soluble fertilizers, NY 1428-2007 Micronutrient water-soluble fertilizers. Biofertilizers: GB 20287-2006 Agricultural microbial agents, NY/T 798-2004 Compound microbial fertilizers, NY 884-2004 Bio-organic fertilizers, NY227-94 Microbial fertilizers, NY411-2000 Nitrogen-fixing bacteria fertilizers. Packaging requirements: NY/T 1108-2006 Technical requirements for packaging of liquid fertilizers, GB18382-2001 Content and requirements for fertilizer labeling, GB 8569-1997 Packaging of solid chemical fertilizers. Other fertilizer standards: NY/T797-2004 Silicon fertilizers, GB 20412-2006 Calcium-magnesium-phosphorus fertilizers, HG/T 3931-2007 Slow-release and controlled-release fertilizers. Standards for fertilizer use: NY/T 1536-2007 Technical procedures for field trials of microbial fertilizers and guidelines for evaluating their efficacy, NY/T 496－2002 General principles for the rational use of fertilizers, NY/T 1105-2006 Guidelines for the rational use of fertilizers – Nitrogen fertilizers, NY/T 1535-2007 Guidelines for the rational use of fertilizers – Microbial fertilizers. There are also various standards related to the testing of fertilizers, many of them
HG/T 3931-2007 for slow- and controlled-release fertilizers is no longer suitable for current conditions; it should have been updated long ago! Alas! As a result, nowadays they all use slow- and controlled-release fertilizers; it’s the farmers who end up suffering!