There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Wood industries and power plants generate enormous quantities of wood ash. Disposal
in landfills has been for long a common method for removal. New regulations for conserving
the environment have raised the costs of landfill disposal and added to the difficulties
for acquiring new sites for disposal. Over a few decades a number of studies have
been carried out on the utilization of wood ashes in agriculture and forestry as an
alternative method for disposal. Because of their properties and their influence on
soil chemistry the utilization of wood ashes is particularly suited for the fertility
management of tropical acid soils and forest soils. This review principally focuses
on ash from the wood industry and power plants and considers its physical, chemical
and mineralogical characteristics, its effect on soil properties, on the availability
of nutrient elements and on the growth and chemical composition of crops and trees,
as well as its impact on the environment.