No chemical residues were found in milk produced from cows grazing grass treated with protected urea fertiliser in milk sampling trials carried out by Teagasc.

Patrick Forrestal, researcher at Johnstown Castle, presented the latest research update on protected urea at a Teagasc Signpost webinar last Friday.

The samples were taken to detect the urease inhibitors (NBPT and NBPT-o) used in protected urea production.

Forrestal added that the milk sampling procedure used an extremely sensitive detection method and explained that the limit of quantification of the method used was extremely low at two parts per billion.

Publication

This research is due to be peer-reviewed and published in the near future.

He also commented that there was little difference in grass yield between grass treated with CAN, protected urea and standard urea and also described results showing very little difference between fertiliser treatments and bacterial populations in the soil.