An investigation of plant growth by the addition of glauconitic fertilizer

Abstract

This work investigates the usefulness of glauconite as an alternate fertilizer by field experiments on growing durum wheat. Separate field experiments using glauconitolite and original soil compare the effectiveness of different products for agronomic applications. The addition of glauconitolite to soil increases the grain yield of wheat significantly. Glauconite undergoes noticeable structural and chemical changes in the soil during the growing season of wheat. The addition of glauconite improves the soil physico-chemical properties by enhancing concentrations of organic carbon, nitrates, exchangeable ammonium, K, P, Ca and Mg. The pH of the originally acidic soil increases from 6.0 to 6.7 with the application of glauconitic products. The increased K, P, Ca and Mg contents in the soil are associated with the complex chemical composition and ion-exchange capacity of glauconite. The K2O content of the original glauconite decreases by about 24% during one growing season. This study, therefore, demonstrates glauconitic rocks as environment-friendly, and slow release fertilizers.