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The use of feldspars as potassium fertilizers in the savannah of Colombia

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Abstract

Finely ground sanidine feldspar from the Huila area of Colombia (< 100 mesh, largely sanidine, 7% K) and KCl were used as fertilizers in a pasture experiment at Carimagua on an oxisol containing lmg total K and 23µg exchangeable K per g (0.6µeq per g). The association ofBrachiaria dyctioneura andPueraria phaseoloides clearly responded to K taken up from the KCl with a small though non-significant response to the feldspar. During 14 months the crop took up between 25 and 68% of the KCl-K or about 10% of the feldspar-K. Much of the applied KCl became non-exchangeable, but was released as required by the crop: the soil contained an Al chlorite-vermiculite which held the native K and fixed and released K during the experiment. The feldspar may be valuable as a slow release fertilizer in low input agricultural systems particularly on leached soils of low ECEC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIAT, Apartado Aereo 6713, Cali, Colombia

    J. I. Sanz Scovino

  2. Soil Science Department, The University, London Road, RG1 5AQ, Reading, UK

    J. I. Sanz Scovino & D. L. Rowell

Authors
  1. J. I. Sanz Scovino
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  2. D. L. Rowell
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Sanz Scovino, J.I., Rowell, D.L. The use of feldspars as potassium fertilizers in the savannah of Colombia. Fertilizer Research 17, 71–83 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01050458

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01050458

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