Calcined nepheline syenite powder increases potassium availability to corn

Abstract

 

This research evaluated powdered nepheline syenite (NS) as a potassium source for corn. The treatments were different particle sizes and heating the NS with calcium chloride at 900^oC, and the samples were incubated in soil under controlled conditions before cropping. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using corn (Zea mays L.) plants cultivated in pots in a completely randomized 2x3 + 2 factorial block design with five replications. Five plants were growth in each pot with 5 kg of an Oxisol–Typic Hapludox soil for three successive 33-day cropping periods. At the end of each cropping period the K contents of shoot dry matter and soil and were determined. There was no effect on shoot dry matter production (p> 0.05). There was greater soil and dry matter K contents when heated NS was used, but for particle size. The treatments significantly affected (p <0.01) the K levels in the plants in the first crop. There was no residual effect on potassium content in the soil after the third crop (p> 0.05). NS in natura has low solubility and does not provide potassium to plants while calcined rock powder works as a thermopotassium source.