191 results for group: agriculture-1

Basalt addition improves the performance of young grassland monocultures under more persistent weather featuring longer dry and wet spells

Simon Reynaert, Arthur Vienne, Hans J De Boeck, Tommy D'Hose, Ivan Janssens, Ivan Nijs, Miguel Portillo-Estrada, Erik Verbruggen, Sara Vicca, Sílvia Poblador Abstract Global warming is altering the intra-annual variability of precipitation patterns in the mid-latitudes, including a shift towards longer dry and wet spells compared to historic averages. Such fluctuations will likely alter soil water and nutrient dynamics of managed ecosystems which could negatively influence their functioning (e.g., productivity and fodder quality). Here, we investigated whether basalt addition could attenuate effects of increasingly persistent precipitation ...

Characterization of Physically Fractionated Wollastonite-Amended Agricultural Soils

Aashvi Dudhaiya, Fatima Haque, Hugo Fantucci, Rafael M. Santos Abstract Wollastonite is a natural silicate mineral that can be used as an agricultural soil amendment. Once in the soil, this mineral undergoes weathering and carbonation reactions, and, under certain soil and field crop conditions, our previous work has shown that this practice leads to accumulation of inorganic carbon (calcium carbonate). Mineral carbonation is the carbon sequestration approach with the greatest potential for sequestration capacity and permanency. Agricultural lands offer vast areas onto which such minerals can be applied, while benefiting crops. This work ...

Co-Benefits of Wollastonite Weathering in Agriculture: CO2 Sequestration and Promoted Plant Growth

Fatima Haque, Rafael M. Santos, Animesh Dutta, Mahendra Thimmanagari, Yi Wai Chiang Abstract To lock atmospheric CO2 at anthropogenic timescale, fast weathering silicates can be applied to soil to speed up natural CO2 sequestration via enhanced weathering. Agricultural lands offer large area for silicate application, but expected weathering rates as a function of soil and crop type, and potential impacts on the crops, are not well known. This study investigated the role of plants on enhanced weathering of wollastonite (CaSiO3) in soils. Using rooftop pot experiments with leguminous beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and non-leguminous corn (Zea mays ...

Solubility curve of rock powder inoculated with microorganisms in the production of biofertilizers

Valeria Nogueira da Silva, Luiz Eduardo de Souza Fernandes da Silva, Apolino Jose Nogueira da Silva, Newton Pereira Stamford, Gorete Ribeiro de Macedo Abstract The study was conducted at the Biochemistry Engineering Laboratory of the Federal University of the Rio Grande do Norte to verify the efficacy of microorganisms as solvents of apatite and biotite rock powder to enable the availability and rapid production of biofertilizers. Bacteria Paenibacillus polymyxa, Ralstonia solanacearum, Cromobacterium violaceum and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and fungi Penicillium fellutanum and Tricoderma humatum were inoculated into biotite rock powder and ...

Improving chemical properties of a highly weathered soil using finely ground basalt rocks

Markus Anda, J. Shamshuddin, C.I. Fauziah Abstract Chemical property degradation of Oxisols (highly weathered soils) is revealed by very low cation exchange capacity and base cations but high Al saturation. The objective of this study was to increase cation exchange capacity and base cations and to alleviate Al toxicity of a highly weathered soil using finely ground basalt rocks. The topsoil and subsoil representing the natural and severely eroded conditions, respectively, were incubated with various rates (up to 80 t ha−1) of finely ground basalt (b50 μm) under ambient laboratory conditions for 24 months. The soils and solution were sampled ...

Understanding the mobility of potential nutrients in rock mining by- products: An opportunity for more sustainable agriculture and mining

Adilson Celimar Dalmora, Claudete Gindri Ramos, Leandro Gomez Plata, Marcondes Lima da Costa, Rubens Muller Kautzmann, Luis Felipe Silva Oliveira Abstract The increase in demand for highly soluble fertilizers brings a global sustainability concern. Alternative sources for traditional fertilization are therefore needed. Rock powder use has been proposed as an alternative approach to soil remineralization. However, research on the agricultural potential of minerals and rocks as alternative sources of nutrients is limited to changes in soil chemical attributes or effects on crop yield. In this work, we report an experimental study addressing the ...

Waste mineral powder supplies plant available potassium: Evaluation of chemical and biological interventions

B.B. Basak, Binoy Sarkar, Peter Sanderson, Ravi Naidu Abstract A study was conducted to evaluate a waste rock powder collected from the Seaham quarry in New South Wales, Australia, as a source of potassium (K) in soil. The K supplying capacity of different size fractions of the mineral powder was evaluated by employing five chemical extractants as well as growing maize and holy basil in sand culture experiments. The K release by chemical extractants increased with decreasing particle size of the mineral powder. The amount of K released by different extractants followed the order: water < 0.01 M calcium chloride < 0.01 M citric acid < 1 N ...

Solubilization of Potassium Containing Mineral by Microorganisms From Sugarcane Rhizosphere

Tri Candra Setiawati and Laily Mutmainnah Abstract Potassium solubilizing microorganisms (KSM) isolated from sugarcane rhizosphere and their capability on solubilization from some insoluble potassium were examined. Isolation of potassium solubilizer was carried out from three sugarcane plantations area, on Alexandrov’s agar medium. From the 41 isolated microorganisms were selected 15 isolates potassium solubilizing microorganisms which exhibiting highest potassium solubilization (solubility index) on solid medium. All the KSM were found to be capable of solubilizing K from insoluble K-bearing minerals source, and the solubilization zone ...

Does a rhizospheric microorganism enhance K+ availability in agricultural soils?

Vijay Singh Meena, B.R. Maurya, Jay Prakash Verma Abstract The potassium solubilizing microorganisms (KSMs) are a rhizospheric microorganism which solubilizesthe insoluble potassium (K) to soluble forms of K for plant growth and yield. K-solubilization is carried out by a large number of saprophytic bacteria (Bacillus mucilaginosus, Bacillus edaphicus, Bacillus circu-lans, Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans, Paenibacillus spp.) and fungal strains (Aspergillus spp. and Aspergillus terreus). Major amounts of K containing minerals (muscovite, orthoclase, biotite, feldspar, illite, mica) are present in the soil as a fixed form which is not directly ...

Nutrient-doped synthetic silicates for enhanced weathering, remineralization and fertilization on agricultural lands of global cold regions – A perspective on the research ahead

Andrea Hicks, Pratik Dholabhai, Asif Ali, Rafael M. Santos Abstract There is now a dire demand for negative emissions technologies (which sequester CO2 from the atmosphere) that can be rapidly deployed, are scalable, and are demonstrably safe and effective. Enhanced weathering of silicate minerals has demonstrated a significant potential for CO2 capture and sequestration by the formation of pedogenic carbonates in soils, subsoils, and sediments. This technique has also been shown to deliver fruitful results in terms of improving soil health, and in turn plant health, through remineralization. The silicate minerals that possess the highest ...