Global cereal production doubled between 1960 and 2000, mainly from increased yields resulting from greater use of pesticides, new crop strains and fertilizers. Over the same period, fertilizer application rose from 5 to 80 million tonnes (N) and from 5 to 30 million tonnes (P) (1). However, fertiliser is expensive and this growth has not benefitted many parts of the developing world.

This project will conduct the first proof-of-concept laboratory evaluation of the potential of “glacial flour” as a slow-release fertiliser, boosting cereal crop yields whilst consuming CO2 from the atmosphere via enhanced silicate weathering.

The teams recent work demonstrated that fine “flour” deposited by glaciers is rich in nutrients (P, K, micronutrients) (2-4). They now aim to conduct a suite of controlled growth experiments to investigate the effects of the addition of glacial flour to crops.

They will focus on the rapid cycling variety of wheat, “Apogee”, developed for growth in the International Space Station and progressing from seed to plant in 6-8 weeks. Experiments will be carried out in the GroDome facility, employing three treatments:

• control (horticultural compost);
• low nutrient (sandbased soil);
• and low nutrient+“flour”.

They will reveal whether:

a) flour addition increases seed and/or aerial biomass yields;

and b) the nutritional content (macro/micronutrients, including the dietary important Fe and Zn) of the seed and aerial parts of the plants increased compared with non-flour-treated samples.

These data will reveal whether flour has the potential to act as a novel fertiliser for use in the developing world, benefiting local populations.