Fertilizer waste product helps rescue salt-damaged farm soil
Gonfa KF, Tsehai KK, Jiru SB, Mirkena LW
Soil Health
If you've ever watered a container plant with hard tap water and watched white crust build up on the soil surface, you've seen a small-scale version of the salt buildup that ruins entire farm fields, and this study shows a practical fix.
Some farm soils get so salty and sodium-loaded that plants can barely grow in them, a problem common in dry irrigated regions. Researchers tested phosphogypsum, a leftover material from making phosphate fertilizer, mixed into soil columns and then rinsed with measured amounts of water. The right combination stripped out most of the excess salt and sodium, bringing the soil back into a range where typical crops can thrive.
Key Findings
Applying phosphogypsum at 100% or higher of the calculated gypsum requirement (13+ tons per hectare), combined with 3-4 pore volumes of leaching water, reduced salinity and sodicity to levels safe for most crops (ECe < 4 dS/m and ESP < 10%).
The highest phosphogypsum rate tested (200% gypsum requirement) removed 81% of soluble salts and reduced sodium content by 75%.
The study was a controlled laboratory column experiment; the authors note greenhouse and field trials are still needed before recommending specific application rates for real farms.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists in Ethiopia found that treating salty, sodium-heavy farm soils with a gypsum byproduct from fertilizer plants, then flushing them with water, can restore soil to conditions suitable for growing most crops again.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Evaluation of phosphogypsum and pore volume water rates for reclaiming saline-sodic cambisols of Metehara sugar estate, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia.
Soil salinity and sodicity are among the major challenges threatening agricultural productivity in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia. A column experiment was conducted in laboratory on saline-sod...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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