210 results for group: journal-article


Agronomic feasibility of using basalt powder as soil nutrient remineralizer

Augusto Vaghetti Luchese, Laércio Augusto Pivetta, Marcelo Augusto Batista, Fábio Steiner, Ana Paula da Silva Giaretta and Janete Chaves Dellabeta Curtis Abstract Tropical agriculture is highly dependent of soluble fertilizers, what raises the cost of production. An alternative to reduce the costs inputs is the use of low-cost alternative nutrient sources, such as the basic rocks. The aim of the work was to evaluate the effect of basalt powder on the soil chemical properties and plant growth. The experiment was arranged in a 2×2×2×3+4 factorial scheme: two soils (clay soil and sandy clay loam soil); two crops (maize and soybean); two ...

Vermicomposting with rock powder increases plant growth

Maria Eunice Paulade Souza, André Mundstock Xavierde Carvalho, Daniely de Cássia Deliberali, Ivo Jucksch, George Gardner Brown, Eduardo Sá Mendonçaca, Irene Maria Cardoso Abstract The growth of earthworms in substrates enriched with rock (gneiss and steatite) powder, and the potential of vermicomposting in increasing solubilization of minerals present in rock powder and in promoting plant growth were evaluated. Cattle manure (400 g), was enriched with 0, 5 and 20% of gneiss or steatite powder. Each pot with this mixture received nine earthworms (Eisenia andrei), at a density of 1000 indiv. m−3. After 60 d, earthworms were collected, ...

Evaluation of the potential of volcanic rock waste from southern Brazil as a natural soil fertilizer

Claudete Gindri Ramos, Xavier Querol, Adilson Celimar Dalmora, Karen Cristinade Jesus Pires, Ivo André Homrich Schneider, Luis Felipe Silva Oliveir, Rubens Muller Kautzmann Abstract This study was developed to evaluate the chemical and mineralogical properties of acid volcanic rock waste from mining activities by measuring the availability of macronutrients and micronutrients in Milli-Q water, and in acidic solutions to evaluate the potential use of this type of waste as natural soil fertilizers. The sample used in this work was obtained from a company of the mining district of Nova Prata, Rio Grande do Sul State, southern Brazil. Petrographic ...

Environmentally safe release of plant available potassium and micronutrients from organically amended rock mineral powder

B. B. Basak, Binoy Sarkar & Ravi Naidu Abstract The staggering production of rock dusts and quarry by-products of mining activities poses an immense environmental burden that warrants research for value-added recycling of these rock mineral powders (RMP). In this study, an incubation experiment was conducted to determine potassium (K) and micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn) release from a quarry RMP to support plant nutrition. Four different size fractions of the RMP were incubated with organic amendments (cow dung and legume straw) under controlled conditions for 90 days. Samples were collected at different intervals (7, 15, 30, 45, 60 and90 ...

Effect of the addition of granitic powder to an acidic soil from Galicia (NW Spain) in comparison with lime

Benita Silva, Remigio Paradelo, Nuria Vázquez, Eduardo García-Rodeja & María Teresa Barral Abstract High amounts of granitic powders are produced in the granite industry in Galicia (NW Spain), whose accumulation could pose environmental threats, at least locally. Due to its natural alkalinity, the powder could be used to correct the acidity of soils or mining residues, where it would act at the same time as a source of plant nutrients. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to test the growth of Italian ryegrass on an acid soil amended with different rates of granitic powder (2.5, 5 and 10 %). Soil amended with lime or with lime in combinat...

Release kinetics of multi-nutrients from volcanic rock mining by-products: Evidences for their use as a soil remineralizer

Leandro Gomez Plata, Claudete Gindri Ramos, Marcos Leandro Silva Oliveira, Luis Felipe Silva Oliveira Abstract Great quantities of stone by-products are stored alongside different exploiting mines in south Brazil, which are becoming an unsustainable environmental issue. Powder materials of andesite and dacite rocks were obtained from two mining companies of Southern Brazil. The particle size classification of the materials was determined by sieving. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was used to identify the mineral phases of the by-products and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was applied to determine their chemical compositions. The concentrations ...

Reutilization of granite powder as an amendment and fertilizer for acid soils

M T Barral Silva 1, B Silva Hermo, E García-Rodeja, N Vázquez Freire Abstract The properties of granite powders—a granite manufacturing waste product—were analyzed to assess their potential use as amendments and fertilizers on acid soils. Two types of powders were characterized: one produced during cutting of granite with a diamond-edged disc saw, comprising only rock powder, the other produced during cutting with a multi-blade bandsaw, containing calcium hydroxide and metal filings added during the cutting procedure. The acid neutralizing capacity of the granite powders was assessed in short- (2–3 h) and medium-term (1–30 d) experim...

Enabling food security through use of local rocks and minerals

David A.C.Manning, Suzi Huff Theodoro Abstract In many developing countries, replacement of the nutrients needed to produce subsistence and cash crops is a major challenge, because of cost and long/complex supply chains. Nutrient audits show that major nutrients are being removed from soils faster than they are being replenished, which is clearly unsustainable. The use of crushed silicate rocks as a source of plant nutrients predates the use of the chemical fertilizers that have revolutionised global agriculture. Such highly soluble fertilizers are not ideal for the deeply leached oxisols wide spread in the global south, and are rapidly leached. ...

A preliminary evaluation of volcanic rock powder for application in agriculture as soil a remineralizer

Claudete G Ramos, Xavier Querol, Marcos L S Oliveira, Karen Pires, Rubens M Kautzmann, Luis F S Oliveira Abstract Mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of volcanic rock residue, from a crushing plant in the Nova Prata Mining District, State of Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Brazil, in this work named rock powder, were investigated in view of its potential application as soil ammendment in agriculture.  Abaut 52,400 m3 of mining waste is generated annually in the city of Nova Prata without a proper disposal. The nutrients potentially available to plants were evaluated through leaching laboratory tests. Nutrient leaching tests were performed ...

Is the climate change mitigation effect of enhanced silicate weathering governed by biological processes?

Sara Vicca, Daniel S. Goll, Mathilde Hagens, Jens Hartmann, Ivan A. Janssens, Anna Neubeck, Josep Peñuelas, Sílvia Poblador,Jet Rijnders, Jordi Sardans, Eric Struyf,Philipp Swoboda, Jan Willem van Groenigen, Arthur Vienne, Erik Verbruggen Abstract A number of negative emission technologies (NETs) have been proposed to actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere, with enhanced silicate weathering (ESW) as a relatively new NET with considerable climate change mitigation potential. Models calibrated to ESW rates in lab experiments estimate the global potential for inorganic carbon sequestration by ESW at about 0.5–5 Gt CO2 year−1, suggesting ESW ...