2024-03-01 A new study indicates that 20 percent of agricultural soils have a serious lack of potassium

A new study in which researchers from UCL (University College of London), the University of Edinburgh and the Center for Ecology and Hydrology of the United Kingdom participated, has determined that in many regions of the world more potassium is removed from agricultural soils of what is contributed. According to the study, published in the journal Nature Food, approximately 20 percent of the world's agricultural soils are severely deficient in potassium, and several regions experience an even more critical deficiency: 44 percent of agricultural soils in Southeast Asia. , 39 percent of those in Latin America, 30 percent of those in Sub-Saharan Africa and 20 percent of those in East Asia. Recommendations on the market and use of potash are also presented in the study.

The main challenges for both traditional and modern agriculture are the improvement of crop yields with a more efficient use of resources and with a stabilization of plant development and crop production under conditions of biotic and abiotic stress. (Reynolds et al., 2011). In this sense, potassium plays an especially crucial role in a series of physiological processes of vital importance for the growth, yield, quality and stress resistance of all crops, especially important in these times of climate change. Due to this, its growing global demand is noteworthy. In Spain it is not being given all the attention it needs, and in many cases the production losses due to insufficient use of this nutrient are very important.

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