Role of Carbon Sequestering and Commercial Fertilizers for Minimizing Bio Available K Losses Using Wheat as Test Crop Under Aridisols

Abstract

Potassium plays a critical part in series of central metabolic and physiological developments in the plant (Cakmak and Kirkby, 2008;Marschner, 1986). In plant body, its buildup rate during initial stages of development leads nitrogen buildup. So, its provision to plants looks to be pivotal for nitrogen exploitation, Abstract | Potassium (K) fertilizer is costly in Pakistan and K from soil is depleting with intensive cropping which made it necessary to find out innovative ways to conserve native K in soil. Following study was carried out to possibly find a way to overcome bioavailable potassium losses and to access the efficacy of carbon sequestering fertilizers in this regard using wheat as a test crop under aridisols. Different carbon sequestering fertilizers (CSFs) i.e., press mud, compost and fly ash were applied @ 0% (control), 0.5 and 1% of soil weight along with recommended doses of two K chemical fertilizers (SOP and MOP). After the crop was harvested, soil sampling was carried out followed by analysis in the laboratory. All collected data was statistically analyzed for interpretations. It was depicted from results that use of carbon sequestering fertilizer (press mud @ 1 %) along with commercial K fertilizer (SOP) performed superior by resulting in maximum K content in shoot (2.13 %), K content in root (1.12 %) and K content in soil (330 ppm). Similarly, highest fresh weight (42.43 g) and dry biomass (14.37 g) of wheat were also observed when SOP was used in combination with press mud as CSF. Press mud found to be most effective CSF compared to compost and fly ash.