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 900oC, 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.
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