Influence of yellow gypsum on nutrient uptake and yield of groundnut in different acid soils of Southern India

Abstract

Yellow gypsum (YG), a synthetic product from Linz-Donawitz slag containing high iron (Fe) (5.41%), zinc (Zn) (0.37%) and silicon (Si) (3.41%) can be used as a source of these nutrients along with calcium (Ca) and sulphur (S) for groundnut production. Three field experiments were conducted to know the effect of different rates (500 and 625 kg YG ha−1) and time of application (basal alone and basal + split) of YG on growth, yield and economic returns of groundnut, and micronutrient and Si availability and their uptake in comparison with basal application of 500 kg natural gypsum (NG) ha−1. Basal alone and basal + split application of YG significantly increased the growth, yield and economic returns of groundnut. Further, it increased the soil pH, availability of micronutrients, Si and their uptake by haulm and kernel of groundnut over NG. Irrespective of the location, YG application recorded higher plant available nutrient (PAN) coefficient of micronutrients, while NG application recorded higher PAN recovery coefficient of Si. Basal + split application of YG resulted in better growth and yield of groundnut than basal application of YG. In conclusion, YG can be a potential alternative for NG as a source of Fe, Zn and Si along with Ca and S for groundnut production.

Influence of Silicic Acid Foliar Spray on the Incidence of Sucking Insect Pests and their Natural Enemies in Rapeseed

“…The rapeseed plants were dried in the hot air oven at 70ºC and then microwave digestion of samples was performed. Prior to microwave digestion, the samples were subjected for pre digestion by adding 7 ml of 70% nitric acid, 2 ml of 30% hydrogen peroxide and 1 ml of 40% hydrofluoric acid (Laxmanarayanan et al, 2022). The Si content was estimated using the molybdenum blue colorimetric method at 600 nm (Ma et al, 2001).…”

Development of a Novel Steel Slag-based Sulfur-enriched Multi-nutrient Fertilizer and Its Performance in Agriculture

“…The synthesis of DG helped to achieve a major objective in environmental sustainability of steel production by presenting a route for the synthesis of a value-added product (synthetic gypsum) from LD slag, which is an industrial waste product of the steel industry [17,25]. This is an important development and a step forward for generating wealth from waste.…”