In Situ Acidulation of Rock Phosphate |
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| Authors: | Watson Matamwa Chris Guppy |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Prime Minister’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government Authority, Kilolo, Tanzania;2. Agronomy and Soil Science, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Madgwick, Drive |
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| Abstract: | This study was undertaken to study the impact of adding <75 μm elemental sulfur (ES) on P availability from a range of <250 μm ground rock phosphates (RP) namely; Minjingu (Mi) from Tanzania, Khouribga from Morocco (Mo) and Duchess (D) from Australia. Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum, Thumpa tetraploid) grown in a glasshouse was used as the test crop and tops were harvested 5 times over 27 weeks. Co-granulating RP and 10.7% ES yielded 30–70% more ryegrass tops than RP alone, with the greatest effect with Mi. Fertilizer P recovery in the tops from the RP was 5.2% with D and 6.5% and 7.8% from Mi and Mo, respectively. ES addition increased this by 51% from Mo, 98% from D and 194% from Mi. Co-granulation of RP with ES has been shown to be an effective means of releasing plant available P to crops from RP with minimal fertilizer processing. |
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| Keywords: | Elemental sulfur isotopes phosphorus soil |
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