Rehabilitating acid soils for increasing crop productivity through low-cost liming material

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 408; no. 20; pp. 4346 - 4353
• Main Authors: Bhat, Javid Ahmad, Kundu, Manik Chandra, Hazra, Gora Chand, Santra, Gour Hari, Mandal, Biswapati
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 15.09.2010; [Amsterdam; New York]: Elsevier Science; Elsevier
• Subjects: Acidic red and lateritic soils; Acids - chemistry; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Basic slag; Biological and medical sciences; Calcite; Calcium Carbonate - chemistry; Calcium Compounds - chemistry; Crops; Crops, Agricultural - growth & development; Environmental Restoration and Remediation - methods; Fertilizers; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Manure; Mustard; Mustard Plant - growth & development; Nutrition; Organic amendments; Oryza - growth & development; Oryza sativa; Oxides - chemistry; Productivity; Rice; Slags; Soil - analysis; Soil Pollutants - chemistry; Soils; Zinc; Basic slag; Acidic red and lateritic soils; Mustard; Organic amendments; Calcite; Rice; Productivity; Acid soil; Additive; Liming amendment; Agricultural production; Agriculture; Pollution abatement
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.07.011

Productivity of red and lateritic soils is low because of their acidity and deficiencies in few essential nutrients viz., nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, zinc, boron, molybdenum etc. We compared the effectiveness of basic slag, a low-cost liming material, with that of calcite as an ameliorant for these soils using mustard followed by rice as test crops. Experiments were conducted with three levels of each of basic slag and calcite along with a control on farmers' fields at 14 different locations. Influence of farmyard manure (FYM) and poultry manure (PM) on the effectiveness of the slag was also tested. On an average, basic slag performed better than calcite in increasing yields of both mustard and rice and left over higher amounts of available Ca, Si and Zn in residual soils. The slag also improved N, P, K and Ca nutrition of mustard and Si and Zn nutrition of rice with a favorable benefit:cost (B:C) ratio over the calcite (4.82 vs. 1.44). Effectiveness of the basic slag improved when it was applied in combination with FYM or PM (B:C, 5.83 and 6.27). Basic slag can, therefore, be advocated for use in the acidic red and lateritic soils for economically improving their productivity.