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Fly ash application in soil for sustainable agriculture: an Indian overview

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Abstract

A huge quantity of fly ash (FA) that is being generated as a residue from the coal combustion process is nowadays considered as a challenging solid waste all around the globe. The FA production leads to various environmental problems due to the enormous area required for its proper disposal as well as heavy metal toxicity associated with it. A few decades back FA was regarded as solid waste and a major cause of air, soil, and water pollution, and however, over a period FA has proven its value and is now recognized as a valuable material for various applications. The utility of FA in agriculture to amend soil properties is gaining popularity in recent times. FA addition in soil improves electrical conductivity, water holding capacity, organic carbon content, soil porosity and provides essential nutrients for plant growth. FA works as a soil conditioner to improve the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil. In agriculture, FA application in soil has shown encouraging results concerning crop production due to enhanced nutrient availability and physicochemical properties of FA amended soil. The present review explores the Indian scenario of FA incorporation in different soils for improved crop production, safe consumption, and sustainable agriculture.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are very thankful to the Council of Science and Technology, Uttar Pradesh (CST-UP) for the financial assistance in the funded project (CST/AAS/1549). The authors are also thankful to Amity University, Noida, for providing the necessary laboratory facilities to complete this study.

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Council of Science and Technology, Uttar Pradesh, Ministry of Science and Technology, India, funded project (CST/AAS/1549).

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  1. Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Sector-125, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201303, India

    Ayushi Varshney, Praveen Dahiya, Anjay Sharma & Sumedha Mohan

  2. Mineral Nutrition Laboratory, Division of Plant Physiology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India

    Renu Pandey

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  1. Ayushi Varshney
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Sumedha Mohan and Praveen Dahiya had the idea of the article; Ayushi Varshney performed the literature search and data analysis; Anjay Sharma designed the table and figures; Renu Pandey reviewed the first draft; and Sumedha Mohan critically revised the work. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Varshney, A., Dahiya, P., Sharma, A. et al. Fly ash application in soil for sustainable agriculture: an Indian overview. Energ. Ecol. Environ. 7, 340–357 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40974-022-00241-w

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