Potash Use for Sustainable Crop Production in Pakistan: A Review

[...]i) Pakistani soils require the use of potash to balance the fertilizer use for better crop yields, (ii) site specific recommendations of K fertilizers based on soil mineralogy and K dynamics in soil can deliver its economic returns, (iii) use of potash can enhance the quality of agricultural pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of agriculture and biology 2017-01, Vol.19 (3), p.381-390
Main Authors: Wakeel, Abdul, Rehman, Hafeez-ur, Magen, Hillel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural production
Corn
Crops
Dietary minerals
Environmental quality
Fertilizers
Loam soils
Mineralogy
Potash
Potassium
Soil sciences
Sustainable agriculture
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Summary:[...]i) Pakistani soils require the use of potash to balance the fertilizer use for better crop yields, (ii) site specific recommendations of K fertilizers based on soil mineralogy and K dynamics in soil can deliver its economic returns, (iii) use of potash can enhance the quality of agricultural produce for international market, (vi) potash use can enhance the ability of crops to withstand environmental stresses in the climate change scenario. © 2017 Friends Science Publishers. Keywords: Potash; Precise fertilizer-use; Crop yield; Soil minerals; Produce quality Introduction Potassium (K) is an important macronutrient required in the highest amount after nitrogen for plants and its ample supply is crucial for crop productivity. Generally, K plays important functions in plant systems by activation of more than 80 enzymes involved in different metabolic processes including photosynthesis, protein synthesis, respiration etc., charge balancing across the membranes of different cell organelles, particularly plasma membrane and tonoplast, and as osmoticum in stomatal regulation by maintenance of guard cells turgidity (Mengel, 2007). To fulfill crop demand, usually higher K fertilizers are applied to achieve optimum growth but plants respond insufficiently to general fertilizer recommendations in soils rich with K-fixing clay minerals. The soil was rich in illite and vermiculite clay minerals with high cation exchange capacity (CEC) with major part of applied K as fixed making it immediately unavailable to the plants. Potassium sorption on exchange sites and its fixation also depend on the physicochemical properties of the soil along with the type and content of the clay...
ISSN:1560-8530
1814-9596
DOI:10.17957/IJAB/15.0291