Effect of Lime and Organic Matter on Soybean Seedlings Grown in Aluminum‐toxic Soil

Abstract

Organic matter is believed to be able to reduce Al toxicity in Ultisols. Since little information is available to substantiate this hypothesis, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to compare the effects of organic matter and lime on soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] plants grown under increasing Al stress in a Bradson (Typic Hapludults) soil. Treatments, replicated three times, were 0, 25, 50, and 100 mg Al kg−1 pot−1, 0, 5, and 10% wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) straw, and the equivalent of 0, 1, and 2 Mg CaCO3 ha−1. After thorough mixing and incubation of the growth medium at field capacity for 20 d, five soybean seeds were germinated per pot and the five seeds allowed to grow for 30 d. The results indicated that shoot and root growth were severely affected by increased Al treatments. Aluminum toxicity started to seriously affect plant growth at 50 mg Al kg−1, and plants were hardly growing at 100 mg Al kg−1. However, plant growth in the Al‐toxic soil was improved substantially by the application of wheat straw or lime. The data suggest that treatments with wheat straw produced taller plants and greater dry weight contents of roots than was found in plants grown only with lime. Lime alone yielded good results, but lime in the presence of organic matter was more effective in reducing the effect of Al toxicity. The plants receiving wheat straw still contained relatively high levels of Al (3.7–7.4 mmol kg−1) in their shoots, but little damage could be detected. A tendency toward a decrease in N content was noticed in shoots of plants grown in the presence of wheat straw, but this was believed to have been caused by a temporary immobilization of N because of the application of straw. It was concluded that organic matter was as effective as lime in reducing Al toxicity.

Correcting soil acidity of a highly weathered Ultisol with chicken manure and sewage sludge

“…In fact, amendments with chicken manure or sewage sludge often outyielded those with Ca(OH) 2 It was also observed that manure-fertilized plants contained more Ca and less…”

“…Recent research has shown that the addition of green manures and animal wastes reduces Al toxicity and increases crop yields (2,3,4,5). Complexation of soil solution Al by decomposition products of organic residues has been implicated in Al detoxification (4,6,7).…”

Land reclamation recovery with the sewage sludge use

“…When Al +3 is held tightly by the organic matter, the KCl 1N extraction solution can only displace it partially (Hargrove and Thomas, 1981;Ahmad and Tan, 1986). However, others extraction solutions were able to extract more Al +3 , especially from the soil organic matter and in the soil with pH about 4.8, which was higher limit for Al +3 extraction by KCl 1.0N (Hargrove and Thomas, 1981;García-Rodeja et al, 2004).…”

Effect of corncob compost on plant growth in an acid red soil

“…Once again the corncob compost treatment did not drastically alter the soil pH, but induced a better dry matter yield of 2.11 g-plant 1 with the CC-3 treatment which could be partially explained by an increased plant P uptake of 6.26 mgplant 1 (Table 1). Ahmad and Tan (1986) also found that soil treatments with wheat straw produced taller soybean plants and greater dry weights of roots than treatment with lime alone.…”