2.4. CRCU from bio-composite based coating materials
To obviate effects from the non-biodegradability of certain polymer
coatings and to offset higher operational costs, the development of biocomposite
based coating materials for controlled release coated urea
have recently caught interest in the research circles, with starch as a
contender. Starch naturally occurs as a polysaccharide biopolymer that
is abundantly available from many renewable plant sources. Due to its
low cost, biodegradability, and abundance, several non-food applications
of starch have been investigated, with starch based controlled release
coatingmaterials as one of the numerous areas. Since starch is hydrophilic,
it cannot be used as a coating material on its own for CRCU preparations
and requires blending with other materials for effective utilization
[37,59–63].