TECHNOLOGIES / DMPP
Nitrogen that stays where the roots are.
DMPP (3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate) slows the second stage of nitrogen loss — the conversion of stable ammonium into mobile, leach-prone nitrate — keeping nitrogen in the root zone for longer.
The problem: Once urea has hydrolyzed into ammonium, soil bacteria don’t leave it alone for long. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria convert it into nitrate through nitrification — and nitrate is a problem child: it’s not held by soil particles the way ammonium is, so it moves freely with water. That means it leaches past the root zone in wet conditions, and a share of it escapes as nitrous oxide (N₂O), a potent greenhouse gas, along the way.
How it works: DMPP acts on the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria responsible for the first, rate-limiting step of nitrification. It’s believed to work partly as a copper-chelating compound, interfering with a metal co-factor those bacteria depend on. The practical effect: ammonium concentrations stay elevated for longer, nitrate accumulation is delayed, and the nitrate that does form appears more gradually, in step with what the crop can actually take up — rather than as one large, leachable pulse.
Reduces nitrate leaching into groundwater and drainage water
Measurably lowers N₂O emissions from treated soils in trial data
Effective at low dose — DMPP is typically used at roughly a tenth of the application rate of older nitrification inhibitors like DCD
Particularly useful on sandy or high-rainfall sites where nitrate mobility is the main risk
Where it fits
DMPP sits in CEON’s Inhibitor Technology range, most often specified for high-rainfall regions and irrigation-heavy systems within the UK & Europe and Middle East markets, where nitrate leaching and regulatory nitrate limits are a live concern.
