PHOSPHORUS (P) RECOVERY FROM AGRICULTURAL WASTES COULD PROVIDE A SOLUTION TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE; FABRICATION OF RECOVERED P INTO A POTENT NANOFERTILIZER COULD ALLEVIATE UNTIMELY P RELEASE FROM COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE AIM TO 1) FABRICATE HYDROXYAPATITE NANOPARTICLES (HANPS) USING P RECOVERED FROM AGRICULTURAL WASTES AND 2) DEVELOP A QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION RELATIONSHIP AS A SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND OPTIMIZATION OF A NOVEL CONTROLLED RELEASE NANOFERTILIZER. WE WILL PARTIALLY REPLACE CA BY ZN AND P BY B (BORATE) IN THE HANP STRUCTURE AS MICRONUTRIENTS FOR PLANTS. FURTHERMORE, WE WILL MODIFY CRYSTAL STRUCTURE BY VARYING CATION AND ANION COMPOSITION TO ACHIEVE DESIRED RATE AND TIMING OF P AND MICRONUTRIENT RELEASE TO SYNCHRONIZE WITH PLANT NEEDS. THESE GOALS WILL BE ACHIEVED BY 1) HANPS SYNTHESIS TUNED FOR OPTIMAL P RELEASE RATE; 2) SELECTING BEST-SUITED HANPS AS THE TARGET PRODUCT TO BE SYNTHESIZED FROM AGRICULTURAL WASTES; AND 3)TESTING AND COMPARING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HANPS WITH COMMERCIAL AND OTHER SLOW/CONTROLLED RELEASE FERTILIZERS IN GREENHOUSE STUDIES. TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS, WE WILL MERGE NANO- AND INTERFACE- AND ISOTOPE-GEOCHEMISTRY WITH COLLOIDAL SCIENCE AND APPLY ADVANCED SPECTROSCOPIC, MINERALOGICAL, MICROSCOPIC, AND ELEMENTAL METHODS. SYNTHESIS OF 18O-ISOTOPE LABELED HANPS WILL ALLOW TRACKING OF P DURING DISSOLUTION, PLANT UPTAKE, AND POTENTIAL TRANSFORMATION IN SOIL AND THUS PROVIDE DIRECT AND UNEQUIVOCAL EVIDENCE AND SUFFICIENCY OF PLANT P UPTAKE FROM HANPS. OVERALL, CLOSELY INTEGRATED RESULTS FROM MOLECULAR TO CONTROLLED GREENHOUSE STUDIES WILL PROVIDE FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING THAT WILL EVENTUALLY BENEFIT BOTH AGROECOSYSTEM AND ENVIRONMENT.