Assessing potassium mass balances in different countries and scales

Abstract

Estimating nutrient mass balances using information on nutrient additions and removals generates useful, practical information on the nutrient status of a soil or area. A negative input-output balance of nutrients in the soil results when the crop nutrient removal and nutrient losses to other sinks become higher than the nutrient inputs into the system. Potassium (K) input-output balance varies among regions that have different climates, soil types, cropping systems, and cropping intensity. This chapter illustrates the farm-gate K balances in major production areas of the world and their impacts on native K fertility and crop yields. On-farm and on-station research examples show significant negative K balances in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, while China, the USA, Brazil, and countries of the Latin America Southern Cone highlighted continued requirement of location-specific K application to maintain crop yields and soil K fertility status at optimum levels.