Glauconite Increased Spring Wheat Yield by 28%

Scientists from Kazan State Agrarian University have patented a method for increasing the yield of spring wheat using the natural mineral glauconite. As TASS was informed in the press service of the university, the technology combines the introduction of granules into the soil before sowing and foliar treatment of plants with an aqueous glauconite suspension in the tillering phase.

Glauconite — hydrous aluminosilicate of potassium, sodium, iron and magnesium with the formula (K,Na)(Fe³⁺,Al,Mg)₂(Si,Al)₄O₁₀(OH)₂ — works as a prolonged source of elements, eliminating stressful overloads on the plant. The mineral increases the cation exchange capacity of the soil, retaining nutrients in the root zone and preventing precipitation from washing them out. At the same time, the structure and moisture capacity of the soil are improved — a critical factor with a hydrothermal coefficient of 0.8, recorded in the year of field experiments.

Results on the Yoldyz variety: a full complex of "glauconite 2 tons per hectare + nitrogen fertilizers + spraying with a 0.125% concentration suspension" gave a yield increase of up to 28% relative to the control. The use of the mineral alone without chemistry also provided a reliable, but more modest increase.

There is a raw material base for the technology in Russia: glauconite is mined in the Moscow, Saratov, Pskov and Leningrad regions, as well as in Bashkiria. The manganese variety from the Urals — marsyatskite — and sodium soda glauconite are known. The mineral with a hardness of 2 on the Mohs scale and a density of 2.4–2.95 g/cm³ is formed in shallow marine conditions, forming the so-called "green sands", and is already used as a potash fertilizer and a component of filters for water softening.

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