Thermo- and mechanochemical treatments to increase the phytoavailability of phosphorus in cattle bones

• Grant number: 22/11235-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Eduardo Alves
• Grantee: Felipe Hipólito dos Santos
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/09890-0 - Eco-friendly nanofertilizers from biogenic hydroxyapatite, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

One of the main drawbacks to agriculture carried out in highly weathered Brazilian soils is the natural scarcity of phytoavailable nutrients such as phosphorus. This implies a high demand for phosphate fertilizers, which have become increasingly valued in the world market of agricultural inputs as they come from finite geological resources. In this context, the use of animal bones as a source of phosphorus constitutes a promising alternative to the agriculture in Brazil, given the growing generation of bone residues in the country due to the concurrently intense livestock activity. In this study, four strategies will be evaluated to increase the phytoavailability of phosphorus contained in cattle bones. These strategies will consist of two heat treatments: pyrolysis and calcination, combined to acidulation of calcined bones, or milling of calcined bones at the nanometer scale. It is expected that the pyrolysis and calcination products differ from each other in terms of phosphorus supply to the maize plants and that they present levels of phytoavailable phosphorus similar to that of Bayóvar. It is also expected that both acidulated and nanoparticulate calcinated bones will present phytoavailable phosphorus levels equivalent to or higher than conventional single superphosphate produced from the geogenic apatites. Both the acidification of bone calcined with pyroligneous acid, a by-product of pyrolysis, and possible decreases in the phytoavailability of Cu, Mn and Zn resulting from the addition of bone chars to the soil will also be investigated in the present study.