Evaluating eco-friendly soil neutralizers: The use of pulverized eggshells and clam shells in enhancing rice field soil acidity

Abstract

Soil acidity is an important factor in the yield of rice crops. This article aims to determine the effectiveness of alternative soil neutralizers in agricultural land in the form of utilizing the calcium carbonate and calcium oxide content of pulverized eggshells and clam shells. This study used an independent T-test to determine the difference between the alternative soil neutralizer and commercially- made soil. A total of 45 samples were gathered: these are, along the side of the road, along the irrigation, and away from the road and irrigation. These sites are divided into 4 corners, 1 at the center, and then by 3 based on the depth of the soil sample, separated by 6 inches from top, middle, and bottom. The soil samples were mixed with these neutralizers with a 1:1:2 ratio and recorded a day, three days, and seven days. When mixed with the alternative neutralizers, the results showed a mean of 7.71 pH after seven days while the commercial neutralizers showed a mean of 7.84 pH. The result shows that the alternative neutralizers have a very close value to commercial neutralizers which indicates that they can be used to solve soil acidity at a lower expense. Although the T-test results showed that there is a significant difference between the two neutralizers with a 0.0044 pH value, the difference is just very little and still exhibits an effective result.  This implies that the alternative soil neutralizer could be used as an effective, cost-efficient, and eco-friendly substitute.