engleski

Effect of liming on the chemical properties of Dystric Cambisols

A field trial with liming and fertilization of Dystric Cambisols at Lika area in mountain part of Croatia was set up in 1998. The trial involved 12 different combinations of liming, mineral and organic fertilization in 4 replications. The crops included in the crop rotation were spring barley, potato, maize and winter wheat. Two rates of limestone were applied (10 and 20 t ha-1). Marked acidity of the soil in this region is one of the main causes of poor soil fertility and relatively low yields of grown crops. Mineral and organic fertilizers very often are not applied in the correct manner, while liming, as the key soil-improvement measure, is generally not practiced. Hard limestone, solid stable manure and part of mineral fertilizer were applied in the autumn of 1998, and then the trial area was ploughed. In the spring 1999, after all the practices foreseen by the methodology (fertilization, disc-harrowing, seedbed preparation), spring barley was sown. From the very first crop growth stages, differences between particular trial treatments were discernible. Hard limestone of good chemical and physical quality was used as liming material in the trial. Despite slow activation of hard limestone, positive effects of liming were clearly manifested on the trial area already in the first research year. Before the trial was set up, the whole area had an average soil pH in 1M KCl of 3.86. After the application of liming material, the average pH was 5.31 in treatments with the lower rate, and 5.52 in treatments with the higher rate of limestone. Corresponding changes were also recorded in hydrolytic acidity, base saturation level, and in the mobile aluminium content. The highest barley, potato, maize and winter wheat yields were attained in treatments with the higher rate of limestone, solid stable manure and mineral fertilizers. The differences in the yield according to the trial treatments point to the conclusion that liming, combined with organic and mineral fertilization had statistically significant positive influence on the correction of the excessive acidity of Dystric Cambisols as well as on the yield of the grown crops.

soil acidity; liming; fertilization

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