Societal Interface
In agriculture,
especially in villages, ash is used as fertilizer! ………
Ash
is obtained by burning wood. The hydrocarbons in the wood on burning disappear
as CO2 & H2O, while metal components in the plant
body get oxidized to metal oxides or carbonates.
Much wood ash contains
calcium carbonate as its major component, representing 25or even 45 percent. Less
than 10 percent is potash (K2O), and less than 1 percent phosphate;
there are trace elements of iron, manganese, zinc, copper and some heavy
metals. All of these are, primarily, in the form of oxides.
Hence
ash is a mixture of stable metal oxides and contains most of the essential nutrients
that plants need to thrive.
As the ash contains lime it can be used in conditioning the acidic soils along with its fertilizer action. But leaving the ashes in concentrated piles could cause too much of a salt build-up in areas of the soil that could potentially harm the plants.
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