Effects of lime on the growth of five species, on aluminium toxicity, and on phosphorus availability

Abstract

Preliminary pot culture experiments indicated that the yield of phalaris relative to that of perennial ryegrass was poor on the less productive soils, particularly on some of the soils of pH <5.0 as measured in 115 soil/water suspensions. On an infertile acid soil with a high content of exchangeable aluminium, lucerne and phalaris plants responded to lime in pot experiments while subterranean clover, white clover, and perennial ryegrass were depressed by liming. The evidence, including that based on chemical analyses of extracted soil solutions and of lucerne plants, indicates that where adequate nitrogen had been applied, aluminium toxicity depressed the growth of lucerne and phalaris on this acid soil. The plant roots did not show the stunting which is obvious in cases of more severe aluminium toxicity. Subterranean clover, white clover, and perennial ryegrass resisted the toxicity. There was little evidence of a negative interaction between lime and phosphate on yields through their effects on aluminium toxicity. In general, responses to phosphate increased as the level of lime increased. Where suboptimal levels of nitrogen were applied there were responses to lime which were not clearly attributable to the alleviation of aluminium toxicity. Where nitrogen was adequate and there was no effect of lime in counteracting aluminium toxicity, in most cases lime caused a decrease in the concentration of phosphorus in the plants as well as a decrease in the yield. Lime also caused a decrease in the phosphorus level in the extracted soil solutions. However, in some cases where lime counteracted aluminium toxicity it increased the concentration of phosphorus in the tops of the plants. The significance of the results in relation to the problem of the diagnosis of aluminium toxicity is discussed.

Growth and nutrition of legumes on a high country yellow-brown earth subsoil

“…They compared the lime responses of lotus and white clover in a pot trial where P was applied to the soil surface and lime was mixed throughout the soil. Their data showed similar Robson & Longeragan (1970), Helyar & Anderson (1971, 1974, and Ali (1974) have reported depressions in legume growth by liming which were attributed to induced P deficiency. Such lime-induced depressions are often temporary (Munns & Fox 1976) and may result from Ca increasing P adsorption on minerals such as kaolinite and amorphous and crystalline hydrous oxides of Fe and Al (Helyar et al 1976).…”

“…The lower yields of lucerne in the treatments without lime, and its greater response to lime than lotus and white clover, is consistent with the fact that lucerne is known to be particularly sensitive to Al toxicity (Helyar & Anderson 1971;Andrew ·et al 1973). The fact that lotus responded to lime indicates that it is not completely tolerant of Al toxicity, but its lower response than white clover in Treatments P 2 and P3 indicates that it is the more tolerant of the two species.…”

Cover Crop Management in a Chardonnay/99 Richter Vineyard in the Coastal Wine Grape Region, South Africa. 1. Effect of Two Management Practices on Selected Grass and Broadleaf Species

“…Despite the application of dimethoate and P, the species performed poorly during 1999. Although the pH of the soil measured in 1999 was lower than that at the beginning of the trial (see Table 3), it still exceeded the minimum levels at which suppression of growth can be expected (Bordeleau & Prévost, 1994;Evans et al, 1990;Helyar & Anderson, 1971). Clarkson et al (1987) reported that the amount of rainfall/irrigation received has a highly significant effect on the DMP of M. truncatula Gaertn v. Jemalong.…”

Generation and Characterisation of a Reference Transcriptome for Phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.)

“…Under current scenarios of climate change for southern Australia, with the likelihood of longer and more severe droughts, increased adoption of phalaris may be anticipated. A number of unfavourable agronomic traits, however, are also observed, including relatively slow seedling establishment and productivity in the establishment year; sensitivity to soil acidity and associated aluminium toxicity [4]; susceptibility to seed shattering [5]; and several toxicosis syndromes including 'phalaris staggers' and 'phalaris sudden death' [6]. The former has been attributed to the neurotoxic effects of indole alkaloids such as mono-and dimethylated tryptamines and tyramines, as well as β-carbolines derived from tryptamine [7,8], while the causative agent for the latter is still unknown, although cyanogenic glycosides may be responsible for some cases [9].…”