Yield and quality of maize grown on a loamy soil amended with natural chabazite zeolitite

Abstract

The agronomic use of natural zeolite is widely supported by several works. However, almost all are focused on the application of the clinoptilolite as slow plant-nutrient fertilizer and soil conditioner. Our study describes the first comprehensive study on the effects of a Italian chabazite-bearing zeolitite (rocks containing more than 50% of zeolites) on a maize cultivation. The objective was to determine the effects of applying zeolitite on (i) Zea mays yield and quality, under two irrigation regimes and (ii) check if it can improve the efficiency of urea fertilization on a loamy soil in an open experimental field of Italy. The production and quality of the corn grown in the traditional way was compared with that of the plots treated with two different amounts of zeolitite (4 and 8 Kg/m²) and each treatment was monitored both in irrigated and not-irrigated conditions. The measurements of chlorophyll and those related to the morphological features of the plants show suffering conditions of the corn plants in not-irrigated conditions. Furthermore we show that the plants grown with zeolitite and fertilized with less urea have produced the same amounts of corn plants fertilized with traditional contents of urea.