Eluvial losses of Ca from Umbric Albeluvisols Abruptic produced by different doses of lime: Column experiment

Abstract

Losses of soil calcium due to migration from Umbric Albeluvisols Abruptic soil meliorated by various doses of chalk were studied in column experiment with 16 washings. It has been established that the dynamic of calcium leaching from soil limed with optimal dose (1) and increased dose (2) is of a similar nature. In both treatments in the first 5 and 3 washes, respectively, there was a sharp decrease in the amount of calcium in the soil as described by exponential model. Starting from 6 and 4 washes, respectively, stabilization in Ca losses occurred. It was found that an increase in the chalk dose by 2.7 times increases the leaching of calcium by 4.8 times. It was concluded that an attempt to create in soil a certain reserve of available calcium for plants by increasing the dose of a finely ground ameliorant is ineffective because it increases unproductive losses of calcium. It has been suggested that in the soil there is a buffer system: exchangeable calcium ↔ calcium of soil solution, which even in the conditions of intensive wetting maintains the presence of a certain amount of water-soluble calcium.

Keywords

• calcium losses
• liming
• empirical models