The efficiency with which plants use nutrients to create biomass and/or grain is determined by the interaction of environmental and plant intrinsic factors. The major macronutrients, especially nitrogen (N), limit plant growth and development (1.5–2% of dry biomass) and have a direct impact on global food supply, fertilizer demand, and concern with environmental health. In the present time, the global consumption of N fertilizer is nearly 120 MT (million tons), and the N efficiency ranges from 25 to 50% of applied N. The dynamic range of ideal internal N concentrations is extremely large, necessitating stringent management to ensure that its requirements are met across various categories of developmental and environmental situations. Furthermore, approximately 60 percent of arable land is mineral deficient and/or mineral toxic around the world. The use of chemical fertilizers adds to the cost of production for the farmers and also increases environmental pollution. Therefore, the present study focused on the advancement in fertilizer approaches, comprising the use of biochar, zeolite, and customized nano and bio-fertilizers which had shown to be effective in improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) with lower soil degradation. Consequently, adopting precision farming, crop modeling, and the use of remote sensing technologies such as chlorophyll meters, leaf color charts, etc. assist in reducing the application of N fertilizer. This study also discussed the role of crucial plant attributes such as root structure architecture in improving the uptake and transport of N efficiency. The crosstalk of N with other soil nutrients plays a crucial role in nutrient homeostasis, which is also discussed thoroughly in this analysis. At the end, this review highlights the more efficient and accurate molecular strategies and techniques such as N transporters, transgenes, and omics, which are opening up intriguing possibilities for the detailed investigation of the molecular components that contribute to nitrogen utilization efficiency, thus expanding our knowledge of plant nutrition for future global food security.

Nitrogen (N) is an important macro-nutrient required for crop production and is considered an important commodity for agricultural systems. Urea is a vital source of N that is used widely across the globe to meet crop N requirements. However, N applied in the form of urea is mostly lost in soil, posing serious economic and environmental issues. Therefore, different approaches such as the application of urea coated with different substances are used worldwide to reduce N losses. Urea coating is considered an imperative approach to enhance crop production and reduce the corresponding nitrogen losses along with its impact on the environment. In addition, given the serious food security challenges in meeting the current and future demands for food, the best agricultural management strategy to enhance food production have led to methods that involve coating urea with different nutrients such as sulfur (S) and zinc (Zn). Coated urea has a slow-release mechanism and remains in the soil for a longer period to meet the demand of crop plants and increases nitrogen use efficiency, growth, yield, and grain quality. These nutrient-coated urea reduce nitrogen losses (volatilization, leaching, and N₂O) and save the environment from degradation. Sulfur and zinc-coated urea also reduce nutrient deficiencies and have synergetic effects with other macro and micronutrients in the crop. This study discusses the dynamics of sulfur and zinc-coated urea in soil, their impact on crop production, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), the residual and toxic effects of coated urea, and the constraints of adopting coated fertilizers. Additionally, we also shed light on agronomic and molecular approaches to enhance NUE for better crop productivity to meet food security challenges.

Agriculture waste has increased annually due to the global food demand and intensive animal production. Preventing environmental degradation requires fast and effective agricultural waste treatment. Aerobic digestion or composting uses agricultural wastes to create a stabilized and sterilized organic fertilizer and reduces chemical fertilizer input. Indeed, conventional composting technology requires a large surface area, a long fermentation period, significant malodorous emissions, inferior product quality, and little demand for poor end results. Conventional composting loses a lot of organic nitrogen and carbon. Thus, this comprehensive research examined sustainable and adaptable methods for improving agricultural waste composting efficiency. This review summarizes composting processes and examines how compost additives affect organic solid waste composting and product quality. Our findings indicate that additives have an impact on the composting process by influencing variables including temperature, pH, and moisture. Compost additive amendment could dramatically reduce gas emissions and mineral ion mobility. Composting additives can (1) improve the physicochemical composition of the compost mixture, (2) accelerate organic material disintegration and increase microbial activity, (3) reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and ammonia (NH₃) emissions to reduce nitrogen (N) losses, and (4) retain compost nutrients to increase soil nutrient content, maturity, and phytotoxicity. This essay concluded with a brief summary of compost maturity, which is essential before using it as an organic fertilizer. This work will add to agricultural waste composting technology literature. To increase the sustainability of agricultural waste resource utilization, composting strategies must be locally optimized and involve the created amendments in a circular economy.