An
investigation to improve the
productivity of agricultural
products using Pumice
Pumice is a highly vesicular, volcanic glass consisting
mainly of silica SiO2. The high silica content (70 %
per g/100g) positively affects the quality of pumice
increasing the hardness of the material and its resistance
to chemical attack. It is permeable and highly absorbent.
It has excellent drainage characteristics similar to
coarse sand. The use of Pumice in agriculture reduces
the weight of clayey grounds, and due to the slow and
uniform release of water previously absorbed by pumice
particles, it enables to save on the cost of irrigation
systems. It also enables a perfect rooting of plants
and a very good drainage favoring a natural cultivation
cycle. It is found that tomatoes planted in pumice granules
are 60 percent more profitable than the tomatoes planted
in natural soil. In addition, tomatoes in pumice granules
yield five generations while the planted tomatoes in
natural soil yield only three.
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