Urea Deep Placement & Less Urea, Same Nitrogen
Feeds paddy
Enter your nitrogen rate and area to get the USG quantity, briquette count and urea saved— deep placement cuts nitrogen losses so you need 25–30% less urea.
Plan deep-placed urea briquettes
Next: place ~14,663 briquettes 7–10 cm deep between alternate rows, 1 per 4 hills, 1–2 weeks after transplanting — saving about 13.2 kg of urea.
USG deep placement suits transplanted, flooded rice; briquette size (1.8–3 g) and saving (20–40%) vary by soil and water management.
Urea deep placement — key facts
- Urea saving
- ≈ 25–30% less urea
- USG weight
- ≈ 1.8–2.7 g per briquette
- Placement
- 7–10 cm deep in root zone
- Grid
- 1 briquette per 4 hills
- Crop
- puddled transplanted rice
- Urea N
- ≈ 46% nitrogen
- Why it works
- less ammonia volatilisation
- Privacy
- Runs in your browser; nothing uploaded
Put nitrogen at the roots, not in the air
Most of the urea broadcast onto a flooded rice field never reaches the crop — it hydrolyses in the floodwater and escapes as ammonia gas, or is lost to runoff and denitrification. Deep placement fixes the leak: large urea super-granule briquettes are pushed into the root zone of puddled rice, where they release nitrogen slowly right where the roots can grab it. The same crop is fed with about 25–30% less urea.
This tool gives the USG quantity, briquette count, urea saved and the area from your nitrogen rate. Use it to order briquettes, plan placement on the 4-hill grid, and see the fertilizer you save against broadcasting. Pair it with the Neem-Coated Urea Saving, Fertilizer NPK and Nano Urea calculators for a full nitrogen plan.
Cut urea use
Same nitrogen with 25–30% less urea.
Stop nitrogen losses
Buried USG escapes far less than broadcast.
Order the right amount
Briquette count and USG mass for your field.
One placement
Replace split top-dressings with a single dose.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is urea deep placement?+
Urea deep placement (UDP) pushes compacted urea super-granule (USG) briquettes 7–10 cm into the root zone of puddled, transplanted rice instead of broadcasting prilled urea on the water surface. Buried in the reduced soil zone, the nitrogen stays close to the roots and escapes far less, so the crop uses much more of every kilogram applied.
How much urea does deep placement save?+
Deep placement typically delivers the same nitrogen with about 25–30% less urea, because broadcast urea loses heavily to ammonia volatilisation, runoff and denitrification while buried USG does not. The tool applies this efficiency gain, so you can see the urea saved against a conventional broadcast rate for your area.
What is a urea super granule (USG)?+
A USG is a large compacted briquette of urea — commonly around 1.8 to 2.7 grams — made by pressing ordinary urea into bigger pellets. Its size is what makes deep placement practical: one briquette is pushed into the mud between rice hills, releasing nitrogen slowly right where the roots can capture it.
How is the USG quantity calculated?+
First the nitrogen needed for the area is worked out from your N rate. Because USG is still urea (about 46% N), the urea mass for that nitrogen is found, then reduced by the deep-placement efficiency saving. Dividing the USG mass by the weight of one briquette gives the briquette count; the difference from broadcast urea is the urea saved.
How are briquettes placed in the field?+
One briquette is typically placed in the soil at the centre of every four rice hills (a 4-hill grid), 7–10 cm deep, a few days after transplanting once the field is puddled and the water is shallow. It can be done by hand or with a simple applicator. The fixed grid is why deep placement uses a predictable number of briquettes per unit area.
Why does buried urea lose less nitrogen?+
Broadcast urea sitting in floodwater hydrolyses fast and a large share of its nitrogen escapes as ammonia gas, or is lost when the field is drained or through denitrification at the soil surface. Placed deep in the reduced (oxygen-poor) zone near the roots, USG releases nitrogen slowly and the crop intercepts most of it before it can be lost.
Does this work for any area unit?+
Yes — enter the nitrogen rate and the area in acres, hectares, bigha, guntha or m², and the tool returns the USG quantity, the briquette count, the urea saved and the area. Deep placement is mainly used in transplanted puddled rice, but the calculation works for any field you size.
Does deep placement raise yield too?+
Often yes — because more of the applied nitrogen reaches the crop, deep placement commonly matches or beats broadcast urea yields while using less fertilizer, and it cuts the labour of split top-dressings into a single placement. The main costs are making or buying the briquettes and the placement effort.
Are the figures precise?+
They are solid planning figures. Actual savings depend on soil, water management, briquette weight, placement depth and how leaky the broadcast comparison would have been. Use the result to order briquettes and plan placement, and adjust to local recommendations and your own field experience.