Interactions Of Soil Mineralogy and Fertilizer Management.

Soil mineralogy and applied nutrients interact. There are many examples of the influence of soil mineralogy on the soil chemical reactions that fertilizers undergo after they are applied. These reactions affect plant availability. Less studied phenomena are the changes minerals undergo when nutrients are applied. Changes in equilibrium with changing nutrient concentrations can transform some minerals from one form to another. Finally, nutrients can interact with each other and compete for reactive sites on soil minerals. We review examples from the published, peer-reviewed literature that demonstrate these types of mineral-nutrient interactions.