acidification of soils is a problem for sustainable agricultural use.
Liming of soils is a propriate and for a long time used application in agricultur and forest.
Therefore new scientific work is interesting and good to understand the different singel chemical, physical and biological impacts.
Therefore I am very interested in all new results about lime, liming of soils.
Thank you for information.
As you might observe from the earthworm dissection after the reproductive glands the calciferous glands are a major investment of earthworms.
Earthworms depend on adequate calcium for the digestive process and in addition the diagnosis of a well wormed soil is by the presence of excreted calcitic limestone granules.
The majority of earthworms are inhibited and do not do well in acid soils. soils with little organic matter, and dry soils.
The addition of lime and manure can supercharge the soil by the enrichment of the soil in earthworm castings.
If farmers can provide lime animal manure and water the worms can act as bio tillers.
A single earthworm can produce 5 kilograms of castings in a single year.
In a grass legume pasture with manure addition millions of earthworms can be produced in a single hectare.
Earthworm castings are also 30% carbon it might be possible that the resolution of global warming is global worming and that would need liming and maintaining the earthworm habitat to optimize their amazing abilities.
While the human of 76 kg resides in a hectare the mass of earthworms can reach 1000's of kgs per hectare more than any other life forms in the living soil.
Lime reduced the acidity of soil & try to bring back soil to normal pH condition. Though this is not effective for the sustainable agriculture because we cannot just go liming all the acidic agriculture fields every time, for the sustainable agriculture we should focus on organic farming and search some alternative methods to cope of with acidification of soil.
Lime (CaCO3, natural lime) increases the pH of soil (dos not reduce pH) slowly.
To have "normal" (good for the plants and for earthworms) pH conditions is necessary for sustainable land use.
The most fertil soil is the "black earth", it has a high pH (with about 1 % CaCO3) and a high amout of carbon.
From my point of view good soil fertility needs a good combination of high carbon content with an adequate pH. Of corse this is dependant of the soil type and waterconditions.
I think that organic farming neglect liming and pH management.
I'm unsure of the details you are looking for but some of these publications might be useful to your purpose, see:
Article Influence of lime, fertilizer and manure applications on soi...
Chapter Effects of forest liming on soil processes
Chapter Liming and soil fertility
Article Effect of Fertilisation and Liming on Soil Properties
Many tropical acid soils are not deficient in their pH but also are quite deficient in Magnesium. If your soil test gives a Magnesium value of less than 100 the use of dolomitic limestone which CaMgCO3 would be the best liming material to raise the pH. In highly acid tropical soils the liming recommended is to pH 5.7 where the toxicities are eliminated but not close to neutral as its takes huge amounts of lime and can lead to locking up of micronutrients. The use of a complete soil analysis will allow the addressing of other deficiencies in the soil macro, secondary and micro nutrients. Many tropical soils are deficient and toxic and the idea is shed light on them and address them all to optimize the plant responses. Many acid soils are also low in soil organic matter and when this is a major problem the idea is to create enhanced soil reaction my organic amendment which address the acid infertility both the toxicities of Aluminum Manganese and Iron but also the need for a better source of secondary and macro nutrients. The biggest nutrients for plant are water and air the soil organic matter fluffs the soil up creating spaces for better water dynamics and aeration. When adding lime I would suggest using a 1 MT per hectare dose on acid soils let the some stabilize and retest soils to reach the pH sweet spot.
Liming is the application of mineral calcium and magnesium compounds, mainly carbonates, oxides, hydroxides, or a mixture of them and, more rarely, silicates into acidic soils to decrease the concentration of protons. To be effective, a liming material must displace hydrogen, aluminum, and manganese ions from exchange sites of soil colloids and then neutralize H+ and precipitate Al3+ and Mn2+ in soil solution .
As you might observe from the earthworm dissection after the reproductive glands the calciferous glands are a major investment of earthworms.
Earthworms depend on adequate calcium for the digestive process and in addition the diagnosis of a well wormed soil is by the presence of excreted calcitic limestone granules.
The majority of earthworms are inhibited and do not do well in acid soils. soils with little organic matter, and dry soils.
The addition of lime and manure can supercharge the soil by the enrichment of the soil in earthworm castings.
If farmers can provide lime animal manure and water the worms can act as bio tillers.
A single earthworm can produce 5 kilograms of castings in a single year.
In a grass legume pasture with manure addition millions of earthworms can be produced in a single hectare.
Earthworm castings are also 30% carbon it might be possible that the resolution of global warming is global worming and that would need liming and maintaining the earthworm habitat to optimize their amazing abilities.
While the human of 76 kg resides in a hectare the mass of earthworms can reach 1000's of kgs per hectare more than any other life forms in the living soil.
Earthworms are very sensitive to the toxicity in the soil including destructive influences of moldboard plowing in particular but also synthetic inputs such as ammoniated fertilizer, pesticides and the like.
By taking a plowed maize after maize rotation the elimination of the plowing leads to the doubling of earthworms.
When soybeans are planted the earthworms are favored by 8 times the tilled maize monoculture and by using a no till soybean production that rises to 16 times.
When a ley system of mixed grasses and legumes as perennials are practices the earthworm numbers are more than 100 times that of the maize monoculture.
When manure is added to the perennial grass and legumes the earthworm numbers can reach 500 times the maize on maize tilled system.
The explosive ability to employ symbiosis a systematic food and agriculture based on working with nature rather than seeing it as the enemy is an example of synergistic symbiosis. The employment of synergistic symbiosis is represented by biodiversity use of biological nitrogen fixation concentrating on the soil condition and feeding the friendly biotillers with use the earthworms.
Hallo Tal,
a good question.
My comment:
Usualy you measure pH before liming, to know how much lime shall be given.. After liming I recoment to wait for 1 or 2 years. But even then there might be a few liming particles.
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