check
Effect of leaching events on the fate of polyhalite nutrient minerals used for crop fertilization | Soil and Water Sciences

Publications by Year

<embed>
Copy and paste this code to your website.

Publications by Authors

Recent Publications

Contact Us

The Robert  H Smith Faculty
of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Herzl 229  Rehovot 7610001
ISRAEL

tel: 972-8-9489223
fax: 972-8-9475181
morze@savion.huji.ac.il

Effect of leaching events on the fate of polyhalite nutrient minerals used for crop fertilization

Citation:

Huang, C. ; Yermiyahu, U. ; Shenker, M. ; Ben-Gal, A. . Effect Of Leaching Events On The Fate Of Polyhalite Nutrient Minerals Used For Crop Fertilization. JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION 2020, 43, 2518-2532.

Date Published:

OCT 1

Abstract:

Polyhalite is a natural mineral containing potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulfur (S) and is proposed as a fertilizer source for these essential nutrients. Application of polyhalite is expected to be most relevant in soils where the availability of these nutrients is low: in sandy soils, in highly leached soils, or in areas where crops are irrigated by water with low content of these nutrients or are rain-fed. A controlled lysimeter experiment investigated the efficacy of surface applied polyhalite as a fertilizer supplying K, Ca, Mg and S compared to soluble sulfate salts in two soils (sandy and loamy) with or without simulated rain leaching events through two cycles of cropping. In the first cycle, carrot response and nutrient uptake, transport, and loss through leaching were studied, while in the second cycle the residual effect of the fertilizer was considered on maize without additional fertilizer application or leaching. Polyhalite plus rain led to increased carrot yield due to augmented Ca uptake in sandy soil. In both soils, polyhalite behaved as a prolonged availability fertilizer with more nutrients retained in the top soil layer and not leached below the root zone. The treatments did not affect maize growth or nutrient uptake except for lower K and S uptake in soils where rain had been simulated for the previous crop. We conclude that polyhalite shows potential as a commercial fertilizer to supply K, Ca, Mg, and S nutrients under conditions of dryland agriculture where occasionally leaching by rainfall occurs.