Soil additives potash

Some compounds of the s-block elements are important industrial chemicals, too. For example, more than 1.4 billion kilograms of K2 CO3 (potassium carbonate, whose common name is potash), is produced in the United States each year. This compound, which is obtained from mineral deposits, is the most common source of potassium for fertilizers. Fertilization with potassium is necessary because this element is essential for healthy plant growth. Moreover, potassium salts are highly soluble in water, so potassium quickly becomes depleted from the soil. Consequently, agricultural land requires frequent addition of potassium fertilizers. 

The three most important constituents of FYM are nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Additionally, there are the bulky organic parts derived mainly from the straw and the part of the food that has resisted digestion. Granstedt (2002) showed that the majority of the N (about 90%) in farmyard manure served to maintain the soil humus store and the long term capacity to supply nutrients. 

Bray, R.H. (1944) Soil-plant relationships I. The quantitative relation of exchangeable K to crop yields and to crop response to potash additions. Soil Science 58, 305-324. 

Potassium does not occur in nature in tlie free state because of its great chemical reactivity. The major basic potash chemical used as a source of potassium is potassium chloride, KC1. The potassium content of all potash sources generally is given in terms of the oxide K2O. The majority of potash produced comes from mineral deposits that were formed by llie evaporation of prehistoric lakes and seas which had become enriched in potassium salts leached from the soil, In addition ro natural deposits of potassium salts, large concentrations of potassium also are found in some bodies of water, including the Great Salt Lake and the Salduro Marsh in Utah, the Dead Sea between Israel and Jordan, and Searles Lake in California. All of these brines are used for the commercial production of potash. 

Other effects of toxic chemical mixtures on soil are not predictable. Mixtures of fertilizers and pesticides produce enhanced toxic effects. The additions of urea, superphosphate, and potash enhance the toxicities of carbaryl and carbofuran insecticides to nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soilJ26 Soil co-contaminated with arsenic and DDT does not break down DDT as rapidly as soil contaminated with DDT alone. This results in a persistence of DDT in the environment. I27 ... 

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