Potassium deficiency in agricultural soils is a largely unrecognised but potentially significant threat to global food security if left unaddressed, finds new research involving researchers at UCL, University of Edinburgh and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
The study, published in Nature Food, found that more potassium is being removed from agricultural soils than is being added, throughout many regions of the world. It also gives a series of recommendations for how to mitigate the issue.
Potassium is a vital nutrient for plant growth that helps with photosynthesis and respiration, the lack of which can inhibit plant growth and reduce crop yields. Farmers often spread potassium-rich fertilisers over their fields to replenish the depleted nutrient, but supply issues can inhibit its use, and there are lingering questions about its environmental impact.
The researchers report that globally, about 20% of agricultural soils face severe potassium deficiency, with particular regions likely to experience more critical shortages, including 44% of agricultural soils in South-East Asia, 39% in Latin America, 30% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 20% in East Asia, largely due to more intensive agricultural practices.
What do you even mean with your word salad?
Your first sentence/paragraph is absurd in the post’s context. Crop rotation will not replenish the soils’ potassium.
And in your 2nd paragraph… what do you mean by “similar purpose”? It’s ambiguous, how you have used it. Also, do you know anything of how fertilizers work?
Quick quiz: Wheat has b12 vitamin and iodine, can you just eat more bread to replenish your body’s neads for those nutrients? Or does a balanced diet need to be …balanced for all nutrients?