Summary
Several agricultural problems are associated with the presence of certain levels of CaCO3 in soils. The level of CaCO3 at which the phosphate fixation becomes an apparent agricultural problem, is thought to be an appropriate margine at which the soil can be considered calcareous. Thus, a set of soil mixtures, ranging in CaCO3 content from 1 to 96% was prepared and used in a column study to determine the level at which the CaCO3 fraction becomes a dominant factor controlling. P32 movement and distribution.
Increasing the percentage of oolitic sand, in the soil mixture, from 1 to 10% caused a sharp drop in P32 movement with soil solution and any increase in CaCO3 content above 10% did not show any further drop in P32 movement. The amount of P32 removed with the soil solution was generally low compared to that retained in soil columns. Studying the distribution of P32 in soil columns, after five displacements, has indicated that the migration of P32 from the top soil increased by increasing CaCO3 from 1 and 2 to 6%. The amount of P32 removed was however retained in lower sections. A very sharp decrease in P32 migration from the top soil was observed when CaCO3 content was raised from 8 to 10%.
A similar picture was shown when the CaCO3 material used was in clay size fraction. However the sharp increase in phosphate retention in top soil sections took place at CaCO3 content of 8% rather than at 10%. A limit of 8 to 10% CaCO3 was proposed as an appropriate margine for defining calcareous soils.
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Hilal, M.H., Anter, F. & El-Damaty, A.H. A chemical and biological approach towards the definition of calcareous soils. Plant Soil 39, 469–478 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264165
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00264165