238 results for group: agriculture-1

Historical and technical developments of potassium resources

Davide Ciceri, David A.C.Manning, Antoine Allanore Abstract The mining of soluble potassium salts (potash) is essential for manufacturing fertilizers required to ensure continuous production of crops and hence global food security. As of 2014, potash is mined predominantly in the northern hemisphere, where large deposits occur. Production tonnage and prices do not take into account the needs of the farmers of the poorest countries. Consequently, soils of some regions of the southern hemisphere are currently being depleted of potassium due to the expansion and intensification of agriculture coupled with the lack of affordable potash. Moving ...

Carbonate Precipitation in Artificial Soils Produced from Basaltic Quarry Fines and Composts: An Opportunity for Passive Carbon Sequestration

D.A.C. Manning, P. Renforth, E. Lopez-Capel, S. Robertson, N. Ghazireh Abstract The proportions of different carbon pools within artificial soils prepared by blending composts with dolerite and basalt quarry fines has changed over a period of 7 years, accumulating inorganic carbon as carbonate minerals newly formed within the soils. With no artificial energy inputs following construction, this is regarded as a passive mineral carbonation process. Carbon isotope data show that up to 40% of the carbon within the soil carbonate is derived from photosynthesis, mixed with carbon from geological sources (limestone present in the quarry fines). ...

Biological Enhancement of Soil Carbonate Precipitation: Passive Removal of Atmospheric CO2

D.A.C. Manning Abstract Soils are the dominant terrestrial sink for carbon, containing three times as much C as above-ground plant biomass, and acting as a host for both organic and inorganic C, as soil organic matter and pedogenic carbonates, respectively. This article reviews evidence for the generation within the soil solution of dissolved C derived from plants and recognition of its precipitation as carbonates. It then considers the potential value of this process for artificially-mediated CO2 sequestration within soils. The ability of crops such as wheat to produce organic acid anions as root exudates is substantial, generating 70 ...

Biofortification of crops with seven mineral elements often lacking in human diets – iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, selenium and iodine

Philip J White, Martin R Broadley Abstract The diets of over two-thirds of the world’s population lack one or more essential mineral elements. This can be remedied through dietary diversification, mineral supplementation, food fortification, or increasing the concentrations and/or bio- availability of mineral elements in produce (biofortification). This article reviews aspects of soil science, plant physiology and genetics underpinning crop biofortification strategies, as well as agronomic and genetic approaches currently taken to biofortify food crops with the mineral elements most commonly lacking in human diets: iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), ...

Farming with Crops and Rocks to Address Global Climate, Food and Soil Security

David J. Beerling, Jonathan R. Leake, Stephen P. Long, Julie D. Scholes, Jurriaan Ton, Paul N. Nelson, Michael Bird, Euripides Kantzas, Lyla L. Taylor, Binoy Sarkar, Mike Kelland, Evan DeLucia, Ilsa Kantola, Christoph Müller, Greg Rau & James Hansen Abstract The magnitude of future climate change could be moderated by immediately reducing the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere as a result of energy generation and by adopting strategies that actively remove CO2 from it. Biogeochemical improvement of soils by adding crushed, fast-reacting silicate rocks to croplands is one such CO2-removal strategy. This approach has the potential to ...

Carbonate Precipitation in Artificial Soils as a Sink for Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

P.Renforth, D.A.C.Manning, E.Lopez-Capel Abstract Turnover of C in soils is the dominant flux in the global C cycle and is responsible for transporting 20 times the quantity of anthropogenic emissions each year. This paper investigates the potential for soils to be modified with Ca-rich materials (e.g. demolition waste or basic slag) to capture some of the transferred C as geologically stable CaCO3. To test this principal, artificial soil known to contain Ca-rich minerals (Ca silicates and portlandite) was analysed from two sites across NE England, UK. The results demonstrate an average C content of 30±15.3 Kg C m^-2 stored as CaCO3, ...

Agrogeology

This book offers a basic understanding of the geology of plant nutrients and provides information on processes that are involved in the release of nutrients from rocks to soils, for the growth of plants. The reader will become aware that ‘crops need rocks as nutrient stocks’. The reader will also find out more about the raw materials and processes necessary to make conventional and low-cost geological fertilizers and soil amendments, and on ways to utilize these geological resources directly or through processing. In addition, the reader will become sensitized on environmental issues related to the extraction of geological nutrient ...

OVERVIEW OF FERTILIZERS IN BRAZIL: A JUSTIFICATION FOR STONEMEAL

The fertilizers production chain encompasses the different raw materials (phosphate rock, sulfur, potassium, and natural gas) needed to form the intermediate products (MAP, DAP, SSP, SST, etc.) which are combined to create NPK fertilizer. Due to its huge geodiversity, Brazil has significant phosphate deposits, but the same is not true in terms of its potassium, sulfur, and nitrogen (the latter two coming mainly from the petroleum and natural gas chain) deposits. This has led the country to rely on the expensive importation of these raw materials, which might jeopardize the competitiveness of Brazilian agribusiness. Through data on reserves, producti...

USE OF BLENDS OF SILICATE AGROMINERALS AS A K SOURCE FOR SOYBEAN CROPS

This study aimed to test the efficiency of blends of silicate agrominerals as K sources for soybean crops. The experiment was conducted in the surroundings of Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina – DF (TN: city in the Midwest, Brazil), in two field areas with similar climate conditions and different soil types: a medium texture soil and a clay soil. The experiment was carried out in 6 random blocks, with the following treatments: syenite and biotite schist (silicate rocks), and potassium chloride (conventional fertilizer), in doses of 0 kg, 60 kg, 120 kg, 240 kg, and 480 kg of K2O ha-1. The soil was prepared and the treatments on each plot were manually ...

Farming with crops and rocks to address global climate, food and soil security

David J. Beerling, Jonathan R. Leake, Stephen P. Long, Julie D. Scholes, Jurriaan Ton, Paul N. Nelson, Michael Bird, Euripides Kantzas, Lyla L. Taylor, Binoy Sarkar, Mike Kelland, Evan DeLucia, Ilsa Kantola, Christoph Müller, Greg Rau & James Hansen Abstract The magnitude of future climate change could be moderated by immediately reducing the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere as a result of energy generation and by adopting strategies that actively remove CO2 from it. Biogeochemical improvement of soils by adding crushed, fast-reacting silicate rocks to croplands is one such CO2-removal strategy. This approach has the potential to improve ...