Why in the News?
Soil tests in Kuttanad, known as the rice bowl of Kerala, show aluminium levels far above safe limits, threatening paddy cultivation and farmer livelihoods.
Key Findings
• Aluminium concentration: 77.51 to 334.10 ppm
• Safe limit for rice cultivation: 2 ppm
• Present levels are 39 to 165 times higher than permissible limits
• Samples collected from 12 paddy fields
Cause of Contamination
• Increasing soil acidity (increasing aluminium solubility)
• Aluminium becomes toxic when soil pH falls below 5
• Aluminium availability increases tenfold with each unit drop in pH
Impact on Crops
• Damage to plant root systems
• Reduced absorption of nutrients: phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium
• Iron toxicity also increases in acidic soils
• Decline in paddy yield
Threat to Livelihood
• Risk to small and marginal farmers
• Direct impact on Kerala’s food security
• Described as a grave environmental imbalance
Prelims Pointers
• Aluminium toxicity is linked to acidic soils, not alkaline soils
• Liming reduces aluminium solubility
• Kuttanad is a below sea level, wetland rice ecosystem
• Soil health directly affects nutrient uptake and crop productivity
| What can be the impact of excessive/inappropriate use of nitrogenous fertilizers in agriculture? (2015)
1. Proliferation of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms in soil can occur. 2. Increase in the acidity of soil can take place. 3. Leaching of nitrate to the ground-water can occur. Select the correct answer using the code given below. (a) 1 and 3 only (b) 2 only (c) 2 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 |
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