Evaluation of Fly Ash Fertilizer for Tomato(Lycopersicon esculentum) Growth in Agricultural Field.

Fly Ash has a variety nutrient element such as Ca, K, and Mg causing useful resource to plant growth. Also, power plants generating fly ash in Korea have tried to increase recycle ratio of fly ash. The purpose of this research was to assess an effect of fly ash fertilizer in plant and soil. Fly ash collected from thermal power plant was mixed with bentonite, urea (N source), superphosphate (P source), and potassium sulfate (K source) as a pellet type (diameter 10mm under). In order to evaluate soil fertility and plant growth, five different treatments were constructed in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) field: control, conventional fertilizer practice (NPK), limestone, fly ash fertilizer (20 kg/10 a), and fly ash fertilizer (40 kg/10 a). During the experiment, soil pH, soil organic matter (SOM), available phosphorus, exchangeable cations (Ca, Mg, K) and heavy metal in soil were monitored. Result showed that soil pH and EC were measured at 6.1~6.4, and 0.52~0.67 dS/m for all samples with no statistical difference. However, CEC and P2O5 were higher in fly ash fertilizer at 26-29 % and 26-34% respectively compared to conventional fertilizer practice. In terms of crop growth, no statistical difference was observed with conventional management. Furthermore, heavy metal concentration in edible part of tomato was averaged as 0.15 mg/kg for Cd and 0.04 mg/kg for Pb that all values are lower than control (0.28 mg/kg for Cd and 0.22 mg/kg for Pb). Based on this result, coal ash can be used to manufacture inorganic lime fertilizer and no adverse effect was observed compared to conventional management in terms of crop growth and residuals of heavy metal concentration in crop.

Keywords : Fly ash, Fertilizer, Soil Fertility, Crop growth

Corresponding author: Jae E. Yang, Email:yangjay@kangwon.ac.kr, Tel:82-33-250-6446