Abstract
Calcium hydroxide was applied to monolith lysimeters at Onne in south-east Nigeria. Eight lysimeters were cropped with maize followed by upland rice and four were uncropped. The cropped and two uncropped lysimeters received Mg, K and urea in the first season. Two uncropped lysimeters received no fertilizers. Drainage water was collected during the two growing seasons and analyzed for calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, nitrate and chloride. The fertilizer applied in the second season was not leached during the year of application.
The cropped lysimeters lost 27 percent of the sum of the exchangeable Ca in the soil profile and the calcium added, and 29 percent of the corresponding sum for Mg. With no crop, the losses increased to 34 and 37 percent, respectively, but with no crop or fertilizer, the losses were similar to those from the cropped lysimeters. The loss of potassium ranged from 6 percent from the unfertilized lysimeters to 10 percent in the cropped lysimeters. The amounts of sodium leached ranged from 29 to 35 kg Na ha−1. The bulk of the calcium and magnesium leached from calcium hydroxide and fertilizers occurred in the second season when the loss was in good agreement with the amount of nitrate lost giving (Ca + Mg)/NO3 charge ratios of approximately one. Urea increased the amount of nitrate leached and led to a corresponding increase in the amounts of calcium and magnesium lost in the drainage water. The charge ratio remained unchanged when the cations were leached only with nitrate derived from the mineralization of soil organic matter. In the cropped lysimeters, this source accounted for about four times more nitrate in the drainage water than the fertilizer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams F and Pearson RW (1969) Neutralising soil acidity under bermudagrass sod. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 33: 737–742
Buresh RJ, Austin ER and Craswell ET (1982) Analytical methods in15N research. Fert Res 3: 37–62
Driscoll CT, Baker JP, Bisogni JJ and Schofield, CL (1980) Effect of aluminium speciation on fish in dilute acidified waters. Nature, London 284: 161–164
Friesen DK, Juo ASR and Miller MH (1982) Residual value of lime and leaching of calcium in a kaolinitic Ultisol in the high rainfall tropics. Soil Sci Soc Am J 46: 1184–1189
Gillman GP, Bristow KL and Hallman MJ (1989) Leaching of applied calcium and potassium from an Oxisol in humid tropical Queensland. Aust J Soil Res 27: 183–198
Juo ASR (1981) Chemical characteristics. In: Greenland DJ (ed) Characterization of Soils, pp 51–79. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Kang BT, Reynolds L and Atta-Krah AN (1990) Alley farming. Adv Agron 43: 315–359
Keeney DR and Nelson DW (1982) Nitrogen-Inorganic forms. In: Page AL et al. (eds) Methods of Soil Analysis, part 2., pp 643–698. Madison, Wisc: American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America
Monteith JL (1981) Evaporation and surface temperature. Quart JR Met Soc 107: 1–27
Nye PH and Greenland DJ (1960) The soil under shifting cultivation. Technical Communication No. 51, Commonwealth Bureau of Soils, Harpenden
Omoti U, Ataga DO and Isenmila AE (1983) Leaching losses of nutrients in oil palm plantations determined by tension lysimeters. Plant and Soil 73: 365–376
Penman HL (1948) Natural evaporation from open water, bare soil and grass. Proc R Soc (London) A193: 120–145
Pleysier JL and Juo ASR (1981) Leaching of fertilizer ions in an Ultisol from the high rainfall tropics: leaching through undisturbed soil columsn. Soil Sci Soc Am J 45: 754–760
Pleysier JL, Juo ASR and Herbillon AJ (1979) Ion exchange equilibria involving aluminium in a kaolinitic Ultisol. Soil Sci Soc Am J 43: 875–880
Reuss JO (1983) Implications of the calcium-aluminium exchange system for the effect of acid precipitation on soils. J Envir Qual 12: 591–595
Ritchey KD, Souza DMG, Lobato E and Correa O (1980) Calcium leaching to increase rooting depth in a Brazilian Savannah Oxisol. Agron J 72: 40–44
Ritchie KD, Silva JE and Costa VF (1982) Calcium deficiency in clayey B horizons of savanna Oxisols. Soil Sci 133: 378–382
Rowell DL (1988) Soil Acidity and Alkalinity. In: Wild A (ed.) Russell's Soil Conditions and Plant Growth, pp 844–898. Essex: Longman
Soil Survey Staff (1975) Soil Taxonomy: A basic system of soil classification for making and interpreting soil surveys. Washington DC: USDA Handbook No 436 (Government Printer)
Van der Kruijs ACBM, Wong MTF, Juo ASR and Wild A (1988) Recovery of15N-labelled fertilizer in crops, drainage water and soil using monolith lysimeters in south-east Nigeria. J Soil Sci 39: 483–492
Wong MTF, Hughes R and Rowell DL (1990) Retarded leaching of nitrate in acid soils from the tropics: measurement of the effective anion exchange capacity. J Soil Sci 41: 655–663
Wong MTF, Wild A and Juo ASR (1987) Retarded leaching of nitrate measured in monolith lysimeters in south-east Nigeria. J Soil Sci 38: 511–518
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wong, M.T.F., van der Kruijs, A.C.B.M. & Juo, A.S.R. Leaching loss of calcium, magnesium, potassium and nitrate derived from soil, lime and fertilizers as influenced by urea applied to undisturbed lysimeters in south-east Nigeria. Fertilizer Research 31, 281–289 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01051280
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01051280