Rock dust as a source of nutrients for upland rice crop

ABSTRACT: Some farmers use rock dust as a cheap and efficient alternative to supply nutrients to plants. It is known that rock dust has the potential to replace chemical fertilization in organic production or it may complement chemical fertilization in other production systems. Thereby, the aim of this research was to evaluate the response of upland rice under different doses of rock dust. The experiment was carried out at Fazenda Cachoeira, Raul Soares city, Minas Gerais (MG), Brazil with an altitude corresponding to 360 m, sandy-clay soil. It was used BRSMG Caravera cultivar. Analysis of rock dust and soil before and after fertilization were ...

Sustainability performance of enhanced weathering across countries

ABSTRACT Enhanced weathering (EW) is a promising negative emission technology involving the application of crushed silicate rocks to croplands for carbon capture. There is limited research about the broad sustainability impacts in rolling out this intervention on a large scale. This research assesses the triple bottom line sustainability of EW in eight top-emitting countries using an extended input-output model. Results indicate that overall sustainability performance of EW is influenced by each country’s environmental and social metrics than the economic. Compared to developed countries (UK, France, Germany, USA), emerging economies (Brazil, ...

Challenges in Sovereignty and Food Security: Using Stonemeal as an Alternative and Sustainable Source

The creation of more sustainable systems has become an environmental, economic and juridical imposition, highlighting the premise of development and use of alternative sources of nutrients to crops, like biofertilizers and natural mineral sources. The stonemeal technique, which is the use of rock dust to efficiently manage soil fertility, presumes that the slower dissolution of nutrients secures soil productivity and fertility for longer periods. Hence, the by-products of the gravel industry would have a more noble use. The use of rock dust promotes an increased cation-exchange capacity (CEC) in the solid due to the formation of new clay minerals, as ...