Liming impacts barley yield over a wide concentration range of soil exchangeable cations

Abstract

Liming has widespread and significant impacts on soil processes and crop responses. The aim of this study was to describe the relationships between exchangeable cation concentrations in soil and the relative yield of spring barley. The hypothesis was that yield is restricted by the concentration of a single exchangeable cation in the soil. For simplicity, we focused on spring barley which was grown in nine years of a long-term experiment at two sites (Rothamsted and Woburn). Four liming rates were applied and in each year the relative yield (RY) and the concentrations of exchangeable cations were assessed. Liming had highly significant effects on the concentrations of most exchangeable cations, except for Cu and K. There were significant negative relationships (either linear or exponential) between the exchangeable concentrations of Mn, Cd, Cr, Al, Fe, Cu, Co, Zn and Ni in soil and soil pH. The relationships between RY and the concentrations of selected exchangeable cations (Mn, Ca and Al) were described well using log-logistic relationships. For these cations a significant site effect was probably due to fundamental differences in soil properties. At both sites the concentrations of exchangeable soil Al were excessive (> 7.5 mg kg−1) and were most likely responsible for reduced barley yields (where RY ≤ 0.5) with soil acidification. At Rothamsted barley yield was non-limited (where RY ≥ 1) at soil exchangeable Mn concentrations (up to 417 mg kg−1) greater than previously considered toxic, which requires further evaluation of critical Mn concentrations.

Dry Matter Yield Stability Analysis of Maize Genotypes Grown in Al Toxic and Optimum Controlled Environments

“…A pressure plate apparatus was used to determine the field capacity of the soil [ 31 ]. Aluminum sulphate (Al 2 [SO 4 ] 3 ) was applied at the rate of 24 mg kg −1 of soil because the critical concentration of exchangeable cations above which toxicity is observed in the soil for most cereals is 23–24 mg/kg −1 [ 32 ]. At planting, plastic pots measuring 30 cm high and 11 cm wide were filled with soil amended with a compound basal fertilizer, hygrofert (153 g/kg N, 69 g/kg P, 183 g/kg Mg and 14 g/kg S).…”

Effect of lime on soil chemical properties and corn growth in Ultisols Lebak, Banten

“…The available P in Control, initially at 7.3 mg kg -1 P2O5, was significantly elevated to between 8.8 and 10.2 ppm P2O5 when lime was applied at doses ranging from 1.5 to 2.0 exch-Al (Table 5). Liming reduces exchangeable Al and elevates available P and exchangeable Ca contents in Western Ethiopia [6] and also enhances soil pH and CEC while reducing Al and Mn activity in Sawyers field, Roth Amsted Research, UK [23]. Jokubauskaitė et al [24] reported that long-term liming had no significant impact on soil P distribution, with organic P tend to decrease and insoluble P to increase.…”