Rock dust as a source of nutrients for upland rice crop

ABSTRACT:

Some farmers use rock dust as a cheap and efficient alternative to supply nutrients to plants. It is known that rock dust has the potential to replace chemical fertilization in organic production or it may complement chemical fertilization in other production systems. Thereby, the aim of this research was to evaluate the response of upland rice under different doses of rock dust. The experiment was carried out at Fazenda Cachoeira, Raul Soares city, Minas Gerais (MG), Brazil with an altitude corresponding to 360 m, sandy-clay soil. It was used BRSMG Caravera cultivar. Analysis of rock dust and soil before and after fertilization were performed to check nutrients levels present in them. It was used randomized blocks as the experimental design with five replications and four doses of rock dust: 1100, 1300, 1500, 1700 kg. ha-1, with an additional treatment consisting of NPK mineral fertilization without rock dust. Yield, weight of 1000 grains and the percentage of full and empty grains did not differ between treatments. Therefore, rock dust is a promising strategy to replace chemical fertilizer in rice crops providing equivalent yield to conventional fertilization with remarkable reduction of crop costs as well as the reduction of environmental impacts caused by the excessive use of chemical fertilizers.

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