Sulphur consumption in Chinese agriculture: Situation and outlook

In recent years, more and more reports proved the production increasing effects of S fertilizer. The important functions of sulfur in agriculture are realized extensively. The conditions of S input on cropland and the character of S fertilizer consumption in China were studied based on the inquisitional and statistical data. The results shows that the S fertilizer consumption in China is unreasonable because excessive S is used in phosphate fertilizer producing area and traditional fertilizer using area without depending on the requirement. Comparing to the recommended level, the S input on rice, wheat and corn is high, while the S input on rape and cotton is low, and the S input on legumes is very low. In order to guide the reasonable consumption of S fertilizer, we suggest that a national scale study on soil S fertility and application techniques should be initiated to investigate the S status in the environment and forecast S demand in agricultural production with scientific method, to strengthen the use of traditional S-containing fertilizers and to develop new S-containing fertilizers.