Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Basic Slag: A Cost-Effective Liming Material for Acidic Red and Lateritic Soils| Chapter 7 | Agricultural Sciences: Techniques and Innovations Vol. 4

 

Soil acidity greatly restricts crop yields in red and lateritic soils common in tropical areas, such as India. Traditional liming materials are usually too costly or not suitable for use under such conditions. Basic slag, an industrial waste from the steel industry, is a potential solution as it is highly rich in neutralising value and releases essential nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, silicon, and phosphorus slowly. This chapter assesses the advantages of basic slag in agriculture, especially in improving soil acidity and boosting crop yields. Long-term experiments suggest that it increases the soil pH, lowers toxic aluminium contents, and increases the crop yield by supplying silicon in bioavailable form that assists in stress endurance and nutrient uptake. It also treats environmental sustainability in circular economy perspectives, and the risks associated with it include heavy metal contamination and logistics, policy, and farmer knowledge issues. In general, basic slag is discovered to be a low-cost, environmentally friendly amendment that can restore marginal soils and assist in environmental sustainability objectives.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Manik Chandra Kundu
Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Palli Siksha Bhavana (Institute of Agriculture), Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan-731236, West Bengal, India.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/asti/v4/6222

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