Amelioration of Acidic Nitisols Using Lime and Vermicompost in Negasa Area, East Wollega Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted at Negasa area in Guto Gida district to mitigate soil acidity using lime and vermicompost application on bread wheat land use of farmer's field during 2018 main cropping season. The factors studied were four levels of agricultural lime (0, 50, 100 and 150% RR rated based on exchangeable acidity method) applied one month before planting and three levels of vermicompost (0, 2.5 and 5 t ha -1 ) applied two weeks before planting. The treatments were laid out as a RCBD in a factorial arrangement, and replicated three times. Representative soil samples were taken before and after planting. The soil physicochemical properties were analyzed following standard procedures. The soil pH and exchangeable basic cations (Ca and K) were significantly increased by 7.62, 31.16 and 26.08% respectively while exchangeable acidity and exchangeable Mg were significantly decreased by 47.73 and 26.53% respectively due to lime application at a level of 150% RR compared to control. While only exchangeable Mg, K and Na and soil bulk density were improved due to vermicompost application. The interaction effect of lime and vermicompost significantly influenced bulk density and total nitrogen of the soil. Simple correlation analysis among soil properties indicates that soil exchangeable acidity is significantly and negatively correlated with soil pH, exchangeable Ca and Na. It can be concluded that application of lime at the rate of 150% RR improve most chemical properties of acidic soil. Similar effort should be done over years to determine the long-term effect of lime and vermicompost on such acidic soil properties.

Phosphorus calibration study under soil test based maize response in bedele district of oromia, west Ethiopia

“…The available P contents of the soil were very low. 25 The low contents of available P observed in the soil of the study areas are in agreement with the results reported by, [12][13] who reported that the Ethiopian agricultural soils particularly the Nitisols and other acid soils have low available P content due to their inherently low P content, high P fixation capacity, crop harvest and soil erosion.…”

“…10 One of the main causes for this discrepancy is the low use of external inputs, leading to negative balances for N, P and K, 11 The Ethiopian agricultural soils particularly the Nitisols and other acid soils have low available P content due to their inherently low P content, high P fixation capacity, crop harvest and soil erosion. [12][13] Unless something is done to restore soil fertility first, other efforts to increase crop production could end up with little success. 14 Soil tests for plant available P are used world-wide to determine the current P status of soils so as to estimate fertilizer P requirements for specific yield goals.…”

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“…The soil pH results showed that this pH value was below the described range; hence, the soil was not suitable for crop production. Chimdessa (2021) reported the same very strongly acidic soil in his experiment at East Wallaga Zone and suggested that soil pH must be adjusted through management interventions. Tamene et al.…”

“…This might be due to the increased soil pH, higher SOM added, and subsequent increase in N mineralization by soil organisms. Previous studies have also revealed a rise in total N contents of acidic soils treated with lime and organic amendments, because of N releases during mineralization (Bekele, Kibret et al, 2018;Chimdessa, 2021). The use of SWC practices could also improve soil N content by reducing soil erosion and thus loss of SOM and N (Bekele, Aticho, & Kissi, 2018;Guadie et al, 2020;Hadaro et al, 2021).…”