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Section 3. Agricultural sciences
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20534/AJT-17-5.6-14-21
Orkida Qegi, Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania, PhD student Lecturer University of Sporte Tirane E-mail: orkidaceci33@yahoo.com Fran Gjoka, Agricultural University of Tirana, KoderKamez, Tirana, Albania
Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania, Prof. Dr.
ZEOLITE AND PEAT INFLUENCE ON NITROGEN IN A SANDY SOIL
Abstract: Zeolite mineral and the peat may improve nitrogen to plants in the sandy soil and reduce losses to the environment.A pot experiment was conducted to determine the effect of mixing NPK with zeolite and peat on: NH4+, NO3-. The treatments evaluated were: T no fertilizer 1500gr, T2 soil +N300 P225 K180, T3 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha, T4 soil +Zeolite 12 kv/ha, T5 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK, T6 soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK, T7soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, T8soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, T9 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original10%, T soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK + 10% peat the original.Lolium multiflora was used as the experimental plant and the experiment was realized in the green-house of the Tirana Agricultural University for a period of 7 months.Zeolitic material was take by the Munnell region.The application of peat and zeolite with NPK had the significant effect on NH4+, NO3-, use efficiency compared with NPK without additives.
Keyword: zeolite, peat, sandy soil, nitrate, ammonium.
1. Introduction nutrients uptake and nutrients use efficiency culti-
Zeolites are crystalline hydrated aluminosilicates, vated on acid soils [3, 3462-3467]. zeolites, as individual rocks, were discovered by the Increasing P availability from RP [4, 333-343], Swedish scientist Alex Frederik Cronstedt in 1756 [1, improving use of NH4-N and NO3-N by reducing 394-399]. Zeolite addition to soil will significantly leaching losses of exchangeable cations. Zeolites reduce water and fertilizer cost retaining water and also act as slow-release fertilizer [5, 713-722], beneficial nutrients in the root zone [2, 183-189]. improves rice grain yield, N recovery and use ef-A number of studies on zeolites reported improved ficiency [6, 69-76]. The attractive physical and
chemical properties of natural zeolites will be used worldwide even more in the years to come in the solutions of different problems [7, 3-27]. Zeolites are, therefore, used as a promoter for better plant growth by improving the value of fertilizers; retaining valuable nitrogen and improving the quality of resulting manures and sludge [8, 183-189]. Natural zeolites have been shown to increase the soil cation exchange capacity and soil moisture, improve hydraulic conductivity, increase yields in acidified soils, and reduce plant uptake of metal contaminants in soil [9, 447-490]. 2. Materials and methods 2.1 ZeoliticMaterial of Munella Region (Albania) The zeolitic material used in the experiment has been sampled from the Munella region. The zeolitic
material was ground to 100 mesh. A sample of from this material was analyzed for the chemical characteristics by the X-/fluorescence, in Activation Laboratories LTD, Canada. [10, 33-47]. The mineralogic study of zeolite-bearing rocks reveals authigenic cement consisting of zeolitic material and vesicles filled with zeolites, chlorite, quartz and carbonate, based on microprobe analyses, a continuous variation was observed for the Si/Al and Na+K/Na+K+Ca+Mg ratios that scatter in the range 3-3.5 and 0.01-0.18, respectively [11, 183]. Physical and chemical characterization of zeolitic material, based on methods by Collela et al. (1982), Pansini (1996), Capelleti et al. (1999), consists in: a cation exchange capacity CEC = 1.9 -2.42 meq/g and this selectivity for cations: Zn 2+< Cu 2+< Pb 2+ [12]
Table 1. - Chemical properties of the Zeolite
Quality Unit Value Quality Unit Value
pH (H2O, 1:5) 7.8 Na mg kg-1 75.90
CaCO3 % <0.5 Ca mg kg-1 1196
CECpot meq/100g 6.72 Mg mg kg-1 33.60
EC (1:5) ^S/cm 91 Mn mg kg-1 ND
K mg kg1 3.91 Fe mg kg-1 33.60
2.2 Soil and soil sampling
The studied soils that have been sampled are represented by a sandy soil (Haplic Arenosol, FAO-1988) from Lushnja District. This soil type is considered as a problematic one because of its unfavorable properties for plant growth. Total surface of Arenosols in Albania is estimated at about 10. 000 ha, this surface is in agricultural production [13, 136].Main chemical and physical characteristics of the soil under the study, before the experiment, are given in table 2.
Soil samples were taken from 0 to 30 cm soil depth from five locations, because this is the most significant soil depth to study elements in soils devoted to vegetable crops. There were 10 variants of the experimentT1 no fertilizer 1500gr, T2 soil +N300P225K180, T3 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha, T4 soil +Zeolite 12 kv/ha, T5 soil+Zeolite
6 kv/ha + NPK, T6 soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK, Tysoil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, Tgsoil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, T9 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the origi-nal10%, T10 soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK + 10% peat the original.
Table 2. - Chemical properties of the soil
Quality Value
pH H2O 8.04
pH KCl 7.56
CEC, meq/100 g 14.15
Organic matter,% 2.33
Total-N,% 0.06
NO3-, mg/kg 0.43
NH/, mg/kg 4.04
Available-P, mg/kg 4.81
Clay,% 3.20
Haplic Arenosol (FAO 2006).
2.3 Peat
Peat is taken in region of Fushe Krujes- Albanian city. Is taken by a depth of 0-30cm. Experimental data are given in Table 3.
Table 3. - Chemical properties of peat
Quality Unit Value
pH HO 7,44
pH KCl 6,84
CEC meq/100gr -
Organic matter % 42.6
Electrical conductivity mS/cm 0.22
N-total % 899,35
NO + mg/kg 0.07
NH3 mg/kg 7,30
P-aVaible mg/kg 29,425
Classification according botanical origin: Peat
2.4 Chemical fertilizers
The application rates chemical fertilizers used in the experiment were were as follows: urea 0.045 gr/pot (300 kv/ha); superphosfate 0.199 g/pot (225 kv/ha); potassium sulphate 0.048 g/pot (180 kv/ha).
2.5 Pots
Within the experiments made in the green — house of the "Tirana Agricultural University" we used pots with a weight of 1.5 kg and dimensions: h = 13.8 cm, D = 20 cm, d = 9.15 cm.
2.6 The experiment scheme and observations
The experiment was conducted in a randomized block with four repetitions. There were 10 variants of the experiment T1 no fertilizer 1500gr, T2 soil +N300P225K180, T3 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha, T4 soil +Zeolite 12 kv/ha, T5 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK, T6 soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK, Tysoil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, T8soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK +peat the
200
to
MI
E
m
O
April
original 5%, T9 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original10%, T10 soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK + 10% peat the original.During the growing season of plants, several phenomenological and biometric measuring have been performed. The plants were cut at the maturity time, 2 cm above ground level, stored in paper containers and dried for 15 h at 60oC temperature. After that, plant material was ground, sieved and stored in the glassy vessels. 2.7Analythical methods The processed soil samples were analyzed for N03-, NH4+. To measure NO3-weighed 3 gr of treatment we throw into distilled water. Interracial, cen-trifugation and filtering. Measure directly absor-bance with wavelength spectrophotometer with 220/275nm. To measure NH4+,10 ml of the solution obtained treated with 4 ml reagent 1 and 4 ml reagent 2. Direct measurement of absorbance with wavelength spectrophotometer with 655nm.Analy-sis the contents of total nitrogen, nitrate, and ammonium are presented in mg/kg of dry matter.LSD test at p <0,05 is used to find statistical differences between treatments studied.Analyses were carried out in the Institution of Soil Study (LAME), Tirana (Albania).
3. Results and discussion During cutting no. 2 of the experiment, we found higher contents of ammonia nitrogen in the variants with zeolite T3 and T4 compared with T1control a variant without any fertilization, which means ammonia nitrogen is gradually released from zeolite and more is available for cultivated plants. A similar effect after zeolite application, although their experiments contained significantly higher zeolite amounts found in Chelischeva [14, 234-235] and Tukvadze ED [15, 223-232].
■ T1
PT3 ■14
May
Figure 1. T1 -controll, T3-soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha, T4-soil +Zeolite 12 kv/ha
April May
Figure 2. T1 -control!, T2-soil +NPK T5-soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK, T6-soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK.
Figure 3. T1 -controll, T2-soil +NPK, T7-soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, T8-soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%
Figure 4. T1 -controll, T2-soil +NPK T9-soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 10%, T10 soil+Zeolite 12' kv/ha + NPK + 10% peat the original
Figure 5. T1 no fertilizer 1500gr, T2 soil +N300P225K180, T3 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha, T4 soil +Zeolite 12 kv/ha, T5 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK, T6 soil+Zeo1ite 12 kv/ha + NPK, T7soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peatthe original 5%, T8soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, T9 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original10%, T10 soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK + 10% peat the original
Application of 2 t of zeolite in heavy soils increased the hydrolysable nitrogen content twice, and when they used 4 and 6 t of zeolite, it increased by 4 and 5 times, respectively Sopkova [16, 145-149] and Ming DW [17, 619-654] and Rehakova M [18, 260-264], and Uher A [19, 46-52] suggested that fertilizer with the addition of zeolite became a 'slow-releasing fertilizer', although [20, 149-154] debated the use of the term in relation to zeolite.Similar results were obtained by [21, 106-112] in their experiments there was an observed decrease of the N-NO3-in the soil only to the level of 41%-48% af-
ter the zeolite application compared with the nitrate nitrogen content in the control variant.T5, T6 compared to T2and T1 in fig 2.The same results are also found at Ippolito [22, 1721-1731].
T7, T8, T9, T10 compared to T2and T1 in fig 3 and fig 4.The higher soil available NO3 — compared with NPK alone (T2) as presented in Fig.3 was because of the presence of zeolite, this is possible because of the clinoptilolite zeolite's ion exchange system which enables absorption of anions such as NO3 — and phosphates [23].
Figure 6. T1 -controll, T3-soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha, T4-soil +Zeolite 12 kv/ha
Figure 7. T1 -controll, T2-soil +NPK T5-soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK, T6-soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK
Figure 8.T1 -controll, T2-soil +NPK, T7-soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, T8-soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%
Figure 9. T1 -controll, T2-soil +NPK T9-soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 10%, T10 soil+Zeolite 12' kv/ha + NPK + 10% peat the original
T7, T8 compared to T2 and T in the fig 8.T9 of the soil as mineralization of organic N to NH4 is
T compared to T2 and T in the fig 9, NH4 was sig- enhanced by the higher pH [24,157-164].It is also
nificantly higher in the NPK with zeolite and peat possible that some of the NH4 released during NPK
treatments (T7, Tg, T9, T10) than in NPK without hydrolysis were adsorbed onto the exchange surface
additives (T2) and soil alone (Tl)no fertilizer. The of zeolite (T3, T4, T5, T6) and humic substances of
higher concentration of soil ex changeable NH4 in peat (T7, T8, T9, T10). T7, T8, T9, T10 were partly due to increasing the pH
Figure 10. T1 no fertilizer 1500gr, T2 soil +N300P225K180, T3 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha, T4 soil +Zeolite 12 kv/ha, T5 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK, T6 soil+Zeol1te 12 kv/ha + NPK, T7soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peatthe original 5%, T8soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original 5%, T9 soil+Zeolite 6 kv/ha + NPK +peat the original10%, T10 soil+Zeolite 12 kv/ha + NPK + 10% peat the original
According to Kithome, NH4 retained by zeolite is generally released slowly because of the CEC of this zeolite and nitrification in the soil [25, 622-629].
A similar finding was reported by Ahmed who evaluated the effect of zeolite and TSP on acid soils [26, 394-399]. The findings in this study suggest that retention of NH4+ may be due to the effect of zeolite, which is noted for NH4+ releasing slowly as well as protecting it from excessive nitrification in
soil [27, 839-845]. In another study, Huang and Petrovic [28, 1190-1194] found significant retention of NH4+ and NO3-when a sandy soil was amended with zeolite. This was attributed to increased soil surface area and CEC [28, 1190-1194]. The ability of T7 and T8 to cause significant accumulation of exchangeable NH4 + and available NO3 — was partly due to the retention property of zeolite as explained by Ferguson and Pepper [29, 231-234].
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