Scope of Natural Sources of Potassium in Sustainable Agriculture
Modern intensive agriculture leads to significant decline in soil K status due to crop removal without compensating through K fertilizer. Most of the K ores suitable for commercial K fertilizer production are distributed in few countries in the northern h
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B.B. Basak and Binoy Sarkar
Abstract
Modern intensive agriculture leads to significant decline in soil K status due to crop removal without compensating through K fertilizer. Most of the K ores suitable for commercial K fertilizer production are distributed in few countries in the northern hemisphere (Canada, Russia, Belarus and Germany). India is completely dependent on foreign countries since its whole consumption of K fertilizer is imported. So, self-sufficiency in commercial K fertilizer is a major issue in developing countries like India. In this context, alternative sources of K have a promising future in the developing countries where commercial K fertilizers are imported for crop production. There are some low-grade but indigenous resources of K-bearing minerals which can be exploited as an alternative of the expensive imported K fertilizers. Direct application of these indigenous K minerals as well as bio-activation through potassium solubilizing microorganisms could be a quite promising K source. In this chapter, we have discussed the scope of naturally occurring K minerals (low-grade K minerals, silicate minerals and greensand) and indigenous sources of K (crop residue, manures, wood ash and seaweed) as well as K biofertilizer as a potential substitute of commercial K fertilizer for sustainable agriculture in the developing countries.
B.B. Basak (*) ICAR-Directorate of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research, Anand, Gujarat, 387 310, India e-mail: [email protected] B. Sarkar Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes Campus, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 A. Rakshit et al. (eds.), Adaptive Soil Management : From Theory to Practices, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-3638-5_12
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B.B. Basak and B. Sarkar
Keywords
Potassium fertilizer • Natural deposits • Silicate minerals • Crop residues • Composts • Seaweeds • Microorganisms • Sustainable farming
12.1 Introduction Potassium (K) ranks third most important plant nutrients after nitrogen and phosphorus and seventh among all the elements in the earth crust. It plays a vital role in photosynthesis, starch-sugar interconversion, crop quality and also imparts disease resistance. Significant mining of soil nutrients though crop removal under fast growing modern agriculture leads to decline in soil nutrient status. The condition in case of K is more alarming where most of the farmers’ practices involve only application of nitrogen and phosphorus which leads to K imbalance in soil. In recent years, it has been reported that application of K fertilizer responded well in K deficient soils. It is reported that the annual potassium removals through harvested crops in India are over 10 million tons (Mt) of K2O, which clearly points to the soil K-depletion. Removal of K from soil in comparison to N and P is remarkably high in different copping systems particularly in those involving cereal and fodder crops. A huge K removal has been found by different crops (Table 12.1) without replenishm
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