Zeolite and its potential uses in agriculture : A critical review

Abstract

In many parts of the world food security is being affected due to declining quality and/or quantity of the soil resource base and climate change. In this context, farming with zeolites has drawn attention. Zeolites are natural aluminosilicates present in rocks different part of the world. Use of zeolite has gained a momentum in the recent past owing to multitude of benefits accured from them. Zeolites are useful in agriculture because of their large porosity, cation exchange capacity and selectivity for ammonium and potassium cations. They can be used both as carriers of nutrients and as a medium to free nutrients. Although considerable research has been advanced, further research needs to carried out for their efficient utilization in farming.

Synthesis and characterization of nanozeolite based composite fertilizer for sustainable release and use efficiency of nutrients

“…To improve the nutrients use efficiency and to prevent the loss of nutrients to the environment, nanofertilizers and nanocomposites were widely used as a slow-release fertilizer in farming [13]. The incorporation of various macro and micronutrients in zeolite effectively reduced nutrients deficiencies of soil as reported by many researchers [12,13,14,15,16]. Although most of the previous reports focused on nanozeolite fertilizers incorporated with different nanoparticles, the effect of nanozeolite hybrid fertilizer on slow-release was never studied.…”

Interactive effects of planting method and zeolite application on yield attributes of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in dryland conditions

“…Zeolites are a large group of aluminosilicate mineral compounds with useful properties including absorbing and releasing water, high porosity and high cation exchange capacity, which are applied in agriculture to improve soil conditions (Mumpton, 1999;Eroglu et al, 2017). Zeolites improve the water use efficiency of plants by increasing the water holding capacity of soil and facilitating the transfer of water to plant roots (Sangeetha & Baskar, 2016). Zeolites can improve plant growth and increase its yield by storing and maintaining nutrients and releasing them at the right time and in a gradual manner (Polat et al, 2004).…”

Physical, chemical, and microbiological evaluation of a compost conditioned with zeolites

“…The main characteristic of zeolites is their high cation exchange capacity (Luz, 1995). Consequently, they have great potential as physical and chemical soil conditioners, and research investigating the effects of these minerals on soil and in crop productivity is urgently needed (Sangeetha and Baskar, 2016;Eroglu et al, 2017). To the best of our knowledge, few studies have thus far evaluated the effect of these minerals in soils.…”