Changes in Soil pH and Exchangeable Acidity of Selected Parent Materials as Influenced by Amendments in South East of Nigeria

Abstract

Soil chemical degradation caused by acidity is a serious constraint to food production in most parts of the Tropics. It was in the bid to proffer solution to this that the present study was conceived. Anincubation study was conducted at the laboratory of Soil Science and Meteorology Department of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike. The aim was to ascertain the effect of amendments namely: Control (no amendment), Biochar, Ash, Lime, Biochar + Poultry Manure, Ash + Poultry Manure and Lime + Poultry Manure, on soil pH and exchangeable acidity of Sandstone, Shale and Alluvium. The rate of application was 1.43 g for the sole amendments and 0.72 g each for the combined amendments to give an equivalent of 2 t/ha. They were applied to 100 g of the soil and replicated three times in a Completely Randomized Design. The incubation study lasted for eighty-four days, the pH and exchangeable acidity were determined at fourteen days intervals. The result obtained revealed that all the treatments increased the soil pH and decreased the exchangeable acidity over the control. In all parent materials, applied Lime and Lime + Pm significantly (p < 0.05) gave the highest pH of 6.6, 6.9 and 7.2 for Shale, Sandstone and Alluvium respectively on the 28 th day of incubation which, was the time, the maximum pH value was attained. Biochar and Biochar + Pm were considered the appropriate amendments because the pH values they gave were towards neutral, unlike that of Lime and Lime + Pm that were towards alkaline. It is recommended that field trial of this work is conducted.

The effect of waste sulfur obtained during biogas desulfurization on the availability of selected trace elements in soil

“…It influences mobility, forms of occurrence and availability of heavy metals in soil; the availability of heavy metals increases in an acid environment. This may lead to their accumulation in plants to a toxic level (Haling et al 2011, Filipek & Skowrońska 2013, Vollmann et al 2015, Onwuka et al 2016. Moreover, under low soil pH conditions, immobilization of soluble forms of nutrients essential for plants (e.g.…”

“…The number of soil-transmitted diseases and the number of organisms resistant to acid reaction, e.g. fungi, increases (Tkaczyk & Bednarek 2011, Onwuka et al 2016.…”

“…One of the ways to reduce the negative effects of acidification is to increase soil pH through soil liming (Lošák et al 2012, Goulding 2016, Onwuka et al 2016.…”

Index Model Approach of Heavy Metals Pollution Assessment in Soil Quality of some Selected Solid Waste Dumpsites in Warri and Environs, Delta State, Nigeria

“…Exchangeable acidity of the soil samples obtained from NPA was very high when compared to the records from other sites which were less than 1 except for Opete (which ranges from 1 to 1.8). The soil condition and many processes in the soil are affected when the exchangeable acidity of the soil is high as it results to low pH (Onwuka et al, 2016). Sam-Uroupa and Ogbeibu (2020) recorded exchangeable acidity in the range of 0.27 to 0.40 which was attributed to the moderately acidic pH of the soils.…”

Remediation of Heavy Metals Contaminated Soils: A bibliometric Network Analysis

“…In addition to clay minerals, biochar has also shown good effects in fixing heavy metals in the soil and has also been used in actual site restoration. The International Biochar Action Organization defines it as: "Biochar is a solid material obtained through the thermochemical conversion of biomass in an oxygen-deficient environment" [37]. In the soil, the mechanism of action of biochar with heavy metals includes electrostatic adsorption, ion exchange, complexation, and precipitation.…”