The Influence of Form and Fineness of Lime Compounds Upon the Correction of Acidity and Upon the Nutrient Status of Soils

A Collaborative Study of the Ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) Method for Rating Agricultural Limestones. I. Reproductibility of Ratings and Correlations with Chemical and Physical Characteristics of Materials1

“…It is usually considered that hydrates or oxides of lime are completely reactive and that their effectiveness in neutralizing soil acidity depends only upon their total neutralizing power. Correlation coefficients relating mean EDT A ratings obtained by 11 laboratories 5 and several chemical and physical characteristics of 34 limestones (including sample 8) are summarized in Table 4. Correlations between certain pairs of chemical andjor physical characteristics of the stones are also given.…”

“…From these correlations it is apparent that the EDTA ratings of limestones increase significantly with increasing percentage of CaC0 3 and decrease significantly with in- 6 The report from laboratory L was obtained after these correlation coefficients had been calculated. (5,12) that dolomitic limestones react more slowly with acid soils than calcitic.…”

“…Reasonable values were obtained with calcitic stones but the values for dolomitic stones were too high. Beacher and Merkle ( 5) in 1948 reported that the extent of reaction of dilute acetic acid with calcitic limestones correlated fairly well with soil pH changes during 10 weeks incubation with the stones. Dolomitic stones gave low results.…”

“…In recent years several efforts have been made to develop chemical tests leading to simple numerical values expressing the combined effects of particle size distribution and chemical composition on the effectiveness of limestones in neutralizing soil acidity (3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11,13, 14, 15, 16, 1 7) . Shaw and Robinson ( 16) and Schollenberger and Whittaker (14) have reviewed much of the literature on chemical methods of evaluating reactivity of limestones.…”

Addition of lignin to lime materials for expedited pH increase and improved vertical mobility of lime in no‐till soils

“…This result suggests that although the different lime materials had different soil pH values at any given testing time, they shared the same degree of change in pH over time when mixed into the topsoil layer. Fineness of the liming materials plays an important role in how effective the lime application will be in neutralizing soil acidity (Beacher & Merkle, 1948). Since lime is insoluble and immobile in soil, its effectiveness increases as the surface area of the lime particles increases.…”