Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Brye, Kristofor R.

Committee Member

Wood, Lisa S.

Second Committee Member

Miller, David

Abstract

Wastewater-recovered phosphorus (P), in the form of the mineral struvite (MgNH4PO4⋅6H2O), may provide a sustainable alternative to rapidly decreasing rock phosphate reserves. Struvite can be generated via chemical and/or electrochemical precipitation methods, potentially reducing the amount of P runoff to aquatic ecosystems. The objective of this greenhouse tub study was to evaluate the effects of chemically- and electrochemically precipitated struvite (CPST and ECST, respectively) on above- and belowground plant response in a hybrid rice cultivar (Gemini 214, RiceTec) grown using furrow-irrigation compared to other common fertilizer-P sources [i.e., triple super phosphate (TSP) and diammonium phosphate (DAP)] in a P-deficient silt loam (Aquic Fraglossudalfs). Below- and aboveground rice dry matter (DM), belowground P concentration and uptake, aboveground DM P uptake, total aboveground and total plant DM, grain yield, and grain P uptake from CPST and ECST did not differ (P > 0.05) from DAP or TSP. However, aboveground DM P concentration was numerically largest from TSP (0.05 %), which did not differ from DAP, and was at least 2.5 times larger than that from ECST, CPST, and the unamended control (UC). Similarly, total aboveground DM (i.e., vegetative plus grain) P uptake was numerically largest from TSP (4.8 g m-2), which did not differ from DAP or CPST, and was at least 1.1 times greater than from ECST and the UC. The many similar rice responses among struvite and other common fertilizer-P sources suggest that struvite, especially ECST, is a possible alternative fertilizer-P source that warrant further research into their role in food production and water quality restoration and preservation.

Keywords

Struvite as a potential alternative to rock phosphate derived fertilizer; Viability of furrow-irrigation as an irrigation scheme; Plant response of rice to various phosphorus fertilizers

Download

Share

COinS