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Infobox references. Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula K N O 3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K + and nitrate ions NO 3−, and is therefore an alkali metal nitrate. It occurs in nature as a mineral, niter (or nitre outside the US). [ 5 ]
Potassium is the third major plant and crop nutrient after nitrogen and phosphorus. It has been used since antiquity as a soil fertilizer (about 90% of current use). [10] Fertilizer use is the main driver behind potash consumption, especially for its use in fertilizing crops that contribute to high-protein diets.
The amount of potassium in a soil may be as much as 80,000 lb per acre-foot, of which only 150 lb is available for plant growth. Common mineral sources of potassium are the mica biotite and potassium feldspar, KAlSi 3 O 8. Rhizosphere bacteria, also called rhizobacteria, contribute through the production of organic acids to its solubilization. [87]
A farmer spreading manure to improve soil fertility. A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments.
Mineralization (soil science) In soil science, mineralization is the decomposition (i.e., oxidation) of the chemical compounds in organic matter, by which the nutrients in those compounds are released in soluble inorganic forms that may be available to plants. [1][2] Mineralization is the opposite of immobilization.
Plant nutrition. Plant nutrition is the study of the chemical elements and compounds necessary for plant growth and reproduction, plant metabolism and their external supply. In its absence the plant is unable to complete a normal life cycle, or that the element is part of some essential plant constituent or metabolite.
A saltpetre works or nitrary[1] is a place of production of potassium nitrate or saltpetre used primarily for the manufacture of gunpowder. The saltpeter occurs naturally in certain places like the "Caves of Salnitre" (Collbató) known since the Neolithic. In the "Cova del Rat Penat", guano (bat excrements) deposited over thousands of years ...
Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula NO−3. Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. [ 1 ] Almost all inorganic nitrates are soluble in water. An example of an insoluble nitrate is bismuth oxynitrate.