The study looked at how natural and synthetic zeolites can help prevent the loss of important nutrients like ammonium and potassium in acidic tropical soils. By adding zeolites to the soil, researchers found that they were able to reduce the leaching of these nutrients over a 20-day period. Natural zeolites were more effective than synthetic ones in retaining these nutrients. This suggests that zeolites could be a useful soil amendment to help improve the nutrient retention of acidic tropical soils with low cation exchange capacity.