Zeolite: A Soil Conditioner
Binod Kalita, Sarat Sekhar Bora, Bhabesh Gogoi
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 in different part of the world. Use of zeolite has gained a momentum in the recent past owing to multitude of benefits accrued from them. Clinoptilolite 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. (C, Sangeetha and P, Baskar, 2016).Natural zeolites has been reported to be used extensively as amendments for sandy soils. Zeolitic amendment is an effective way to improve soil condition in arid and semiarid environments (Yasuda et al., 1998). It was also found that application of soil amendments such as Clinoptilolite zeolite with composted manure improves soil physical properties such as soil CEC. Inorganic and organic fertilizer along with Clinoptilolit Zeolite showed the best N, P and K uptake in plant tissues because of less leaching of these nutrients and helps to retain nutrients in root zone by enhancing nutrient absorption. (Ahmed, 2010).Zeolites could be used as an effective additive to control the odour as they could adsorb the volatile substances like acetic acid, butanoic acid, isovaleric acid, indole and enhances effectiveness of the manure (Leggo, 2000).Zeolite acts as a superior substrate or carrier for the nutrients or acts as a slow-release source of nutrients to plants assuring higher yields. The nano-sized zeolite is capable of retaining Zn and releasing slowly into the soil solution, which may serve as a slow release Zn fertilizer and improve use efficiency by crops (Yuvaraj et al., 2018). The effect of zeolite and its combination with chemical fertilizer (NPK) and organic fertilizers (sugarcane filter cake) showed improved soil quality and increased sugarcane yield as compared to control (without fertilization) (Cairo et al., 2017). Although considerable research has been advanced, further research needs to be carried out for their efficient utilization in farming.