Long-Term Lime and Phosphogypsum Amended-Soils Alleviates the Field Drought Effects on Carbon and Antioxidative Metabolism of Maize by Improving Soil Fertility and Root Growth.

Long-term surface application of lime (L) and/or phosphogypsum (PG) in no-till (NT) systems can improve plant growth and physiological and biochemical processes. Although numerous studies have examined the effects of L on biomass and plant growth, comprehensive evaluations of the effects of this practice on net CO2 assimilation, antioxidant enzyme activities and sucrose synthesis are lacking. Accordingly, this study examined the effects of long-term surface applications of L and PG on soil fertility and the resulting impacts on root growth, plant nutrition, photosynthesis, carbon and antioxidant metabolism, and grain yield (GY) of maize established in a dry winter region. At the study site, the last soil amendment occurred in 2016, with the following four treatments: control (no soil amendments), L (13 Mg ha-1), PG (10 Mg ha-1), and L and PG combined (LPG). The long-term effects of surface liming included reduced soil acidity and increased the availability of P, Ca2+, and Mg2+ throughout the soil profile. Combining L with PG strengthened these effects and also increased SO4 2--S. Amendment with LPG increased root development at greater depths and improved maize plant nutrition. These combined effects increased the concentrations of photosynthetic pigments and gas exchange even under low water availability. Furthermore, the activities of Rubisco, sucrose synthase and antioxidative enzymes were improved, thereby reducing oxidative stress. These improvements in the physiological performance of maize plants led to higher GY. Overall, the findings support combining soil amendments as an important strategy to increase soil fertility and ensure crop yield in regions where periods of drought occur during the cultivation cycle.

Liming and Nitrogen Fertilization Effects on Soil Microbial Community in Long Term No-till

Abstract Soil management influences organic matter decomposition rates as well soil microbial community functional behavior. No-till (NT) is the most used management system by farmers due to its conservation practices and high productivity. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of surface-applied lime, nitrogen (N) application, and black oat residues on soil microbial community of a Typic Hapludox under continuous NT. Therefore, soil chemical attributes, microbial biomass carbon, basal respiration, metabolic quotient, most probable number of diazotrophs, as well as bacterial functional analysis were performed. The effect of liming and N fertilization amendments inputs were saw in soil respiration and metabolic quotient measurements, showing them to be good indicators of soil quality. Further studies should be carried out in order to molecularly identify microbial communities present in soils with different liming and N fertilization management to evaluate the behavior of specific bacterial taxa under such conditions.

Why does carbon increase in highly weathered soil under no-till upon lime and gypsum use?

Field experiments have been used to explain how soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics is affected by lime and gypsum applications, however, how SOC storage occurs is still debatable. We hypothesized that although many studies conclude that Ca-based soil amendments such as lime and gypsum may lead to SOC depletion due to the enhancement of microbial activity, the same does not occur under conservation agriculture conditions. Thus, the objective of this study was to elucidate the effects of lime and gypsum applications on soil microbial activity and SOC stocks in a no-till field and in a laboratory incubation study simulating no-till conditions. The field experiment was established in 1998 in a clayey Oxisol in southern Brazil following a completely randomized blocks design with a split-plot arrangement and three replications. Lime and gypsum were surface applied in 1998 and reapplied in 2013. Undisturbed soil samples were collected before the treatments reapplications, and one year after. The incubation experiment was carried out during 16months using these samples adding crop residues on the soil surface to simulate no-till field conditions. Lime and gypsum applications significantly increased the labile SOC stocks, microbial activity and soil fertility attributes in both field and laboratory experiments. Although the microbial activity was increased, no depletion of SOC stocks was observed in both experiments. Positive correlations were observed between microbial activity increase and SOC gains. Labile SOC and Ca2+ content increase leads to forming complex with mineral soil fractions. Gypsum applications performed a higher influence on labile SOC pools in the field than in the laboratory experiment, which may be related to the presence of active root system in the soil profile. We conclude that incubation experiments using lime and gypsum in undisturbed samples confirm that soil microbial activity increase does not deplete SOC stocks under conservation agriculture.

Performance of maize landrace under no-till as affected by the organic and mineral fertilizers

The aim of this work was to study the effects of organic and mineral fertilizers at sowing (without fertilizers, organic poultry litter fertilizer on the surface and mineral NK + reactive natural phosphate from Arad and NK + triple superphosphate in the furrow) and topdressing (without fertilizers, organic poultry litter fertilization and urea) on chemical attributes of a no-till Oxisol and nutrition and yield of maize landrace (Zea mays L.), Carioca variety in a field experiment. Results revealed that P content (Mehlich 1 and resin) was increased in the soil surface layer with organic poultry litter fertilizer on the surface at sowing. Mineral fertilizer in the sowing furrow could be replaced by organic fertilizer with poultry litter on the surface, but topdressing fertilization with urea resulted better N nutrition for the plants and higher grains yield than the organic poultry litter fertilization.

Aplicação de gesso agrícola e especiação iônica da solução de um Latossolo sob sistema plantio direto / Gypsum application and ionic speciation of the solution from an Oxisol under no-till system

O baixo teor de Ca e a toxicidade por Al são importantes limitações à produtividade das culturas em solos ácidos brasileiros. É possível aumentar o teor de Ca e reduzir a toxicidade por Al por meio da aplicação de gesso agrícola. No entanto, é importante melhor compreensão dos efeitos do gesso na especiação iônica da solução do solo. Avaliou-se a especiação iônica da solução do solo (extrato aquoso 1:1) de amostras de um Latossolo Vermelho distrófico textura argilosa, sob sistema plantio direto, cinco anos após a aplicação superficial de 3, 6 e 9t ha-1 de gesso agrícola. A especiação foi realizada com auxílio do programa computacional Visual Minteq em amostras coletadas nas profundidades de 0-0,05; 0,05-0,1; 0,1-0,2 e 0,2-0,4m. Para o Al, as principais espécies químicas foram os complexos com carbono orgânico dissolvido (Al-COD) e com F (Al-F), enquanto o par iônico AlSO4+ ocorreu em pequena proporção. O COD foi o principal ligante para Mg e Ca, mas em muito maior magnitude para este último, refletindo importante participação dos ânions orgânicos na dinâmica desses nutrientes. Em relação ao sulfato, apesar da formação dos pares iônicos com Ca, Mg e Al (CaSO4(0), MgSO4(0) e AlSO4+), houve a predominância da forma livre S-SO4-2, enquanto o fosfato apresentou forte interação com o Al em solução, formando a espécie química Al-HxPO4x.

Low Ca content and Al toxicity are important limitations for yield crops in Brazilian acids soils. Gypsum application may increase Ca contents and decrease Al toxicity. However, a better knowledge of the effects of gypsum on the ionic speciation of soil solution is very important. The ionic speciation of the soil solution (water extract 1:1) was evaluated in samples from a dystrophic clayey Rhodic Hapludox under no-till system, 5 years after surface application of gypsum (3; 6 and 9t ha-1). The ionic speciation was performed by using the Visual Minteq program in samples collected at the following depths: 0-0.05; 0.05-0.1; 0.1-0.2 and 0.2-0.4m. The main Al complexing agents in solution were with dissolved organic carbon (Al-DOC) and F (Al-F), while the ionic par AlSO4+ occurred in small proportion. Ca and Mg were complexed by DOC, and the effect was more pronounced for Ca, reinforcing the important participation the organic anions in the dynamic of these nutrients. Although sulphate had formed ionic pairs with Ca, Mg and Al (CaSO4(0), MgSO4(0) and AlSO4+), the free form (S-SO4-2) predominated; while phosphate strongly interacted with Al in solution, forming the chemical specie Al-HxPO4x.