238 results for group: agriculture-1


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 ...

Effects of Rock Powder Additions to Cattle Slurry on Ammonia and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Maria Eunice Paulade Souza, André Mundstock Xavierde Carvalho, Daniely de Cássia Deliberali, Ivo Jucksch, George Gardner Brown, Eduardo Sá Mendonça, Irene Maria Cardoso Abstract For several decades, farmers have been mixing rock powders with livestock slurry to reduce its NH3 emissions and increase its nutrient content. However, mixing rock powders with slurry is controversial, and there is currently no scientific evidence for its effects on NH3 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or on changes in its nutrient content due to element release from rock powders. The major aim of this study was therefore to analyze the effects of mixing two ...

Urban Farming with Enhanced Rock Weathering As a Prospective Climate Stabilization Wedge

Fatima Haque, Rafael M. SantosRafael M. Santos Abstract With no single carbon capture and sequestration solution able to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5−2.0 °C by 2100, additional climate stabilization measures are needed to complement current mitigation approaches. Urban farming presents an easy-to-adopt pathway toward carbon neutrality, unlocking extensive urban surface areas that can be leveraged to grow food while sequestering CO2. Urban farming involves extensive surface areas, such as roofs, balconies, and vertical spaces, allowing for soil presence and atmospheric carbon sequestration through air-to-soil contact. In this ...

The role of enhanced rock weathering deployment with agriculture in limiting future warming and protecting coral reefs

Negar Vakilifard, Euripides P Kantzas, Neil R Edwards, Philip B Holden and David J Beerling Abstract Meeting the net-zero carbon emissions commitments of major economies by mid century requires large-scale deployment of negative emission technologies (NETs). Terrestrial enhanced rock weathering on croplands (ERW) is a NET with co-benefits for agriculture, soils and ocean acidification that creates opportunities for generating income unaffected by diminishing carbon taxes as emissions approach net-zero. Here we show that ERW deployment with croplands to deliver net 2 Gt CO2 yr−1 removal approximately doubles the probability of meeting the Paris ...

Prospects for CO2 mineralization and enhanced weathering of ultramafic mine tailings from the Baptiste nickel deposit in British Columbia, Canada

Ian M.Power, Gregory M.Dipple, Peter M.D.Bradshaw, Anna L.Harrison Abstract The Baptiste deposit is located within the Decar nickel district in British Columbia, Canada and is a promising candidate for a CO2 sequestration demonstration project. The deposit contains awaruite (nickel-iron alloy) hosted in an ultramafic complex, which is dominated by serpentine [Mg3Si2O5(OH)4; ∼80 wt.%] and contains reactive brucite [Mg(OH)2; 0.6–12.6 wt.%]. Experiments were conducted using metallurgical test samples and pulps from cores with the aim of determining the potential for this deposit to sequester CO2 via direct air capture of atmospheric CO2 and ...