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| Author(s): |
Eros Artur Bohac Francisco
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Piracicaba. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) |
| Defense date: | 2006-08-17 |
| Examining board members: |
Luis Ignacio Prochnow;
Heitor Cantarella;
Sen Hsuing Chien;
Jorge de Castro Kiehl;
Takashi Muraoka
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| Advisor: | Luis Ignacio Prochnow |
| Abstract | |
Phosphorus (P) has been one of the most limiting factors for crop production in recent cultivated soils as well as in old cropped soils in which fertility is not maintained. Traditionally, the application of high solubility P sources has helped to raise soil fertility providing increase of crop yield. However, the manufacturing process of water-soluble P fertilizers requires the use of phosphate rocks with low quantity of metal impurities as iron and aluminum. This requirement has forced the fertilizer industry to discard great amounts of phosphate residue, in which the aluminous phosphates of the crandallite group can be found. Searching alternative P sources for crop production meets the context of rational use of existing mineral resources as well as move forward on the knowledge of agronomic conditions to maximize P uptake by plants. Therefore, samples of the mine residue from phosphate deposits of great relevance (Catalão-GO, Juquiá-SP e Tapira-MG) with aluminous phosphates of the crandallite group were collected and thermal treated, aiming to evaluate their ability to provide P to plants in soils under flooding condition and with pH around neutrality, to determine their relative agronomic effectiveness compared to a standard P source, and relate it with their chemical and mineralogical properties. The material collected was submitted to a thermal treatment under different temperatures to evaluate its effect on solubility and morphology. Treated material was (i) mixed to soil samples with different pH values to evaluate its dissolution, (ii) submitted to a hydrolysis test in aqueous solution with distinct pH values, and (iii) evaluated as a P source to upland rice and flooded rice. According to the obtained results, it was concluded that: (i) the thermal treatment of aluminous phosphates of the crandallite group with temperatures around 500 ºC increase its solubility in neutral ammonium citrate solution and cause alterations on the crystalline structure of minerals, (ii) P released from these mineral is very low in aqueous solution with pH ranging from 4 to 8, (iii) dissolution of aluminous phosphates of the crandallite group under soil conditions is higher when soil pH is around neutrality, compared to low acidity, and (iv) the addition of these P sources to soil significantly increased dry matter yield, P uptake by plants, and grain yield of upland rice and flooded rice, however not as much as for the standard P source. (AU) | |