In tropical regions, soil acidity and low soil fertility are the most important yield-limiting factors for sustainable crop production. Using legume cover crops as mulch is an important strategy not only to protect the soil loss from erosion but also to ameliorate soil fertility. Information is limited regarding tolerances of tropical legume cover crops to acid soils. A greenhouse experiment wa...

Contents 1. Introduction 2. Soil acidity and its indices 2.1. Actual acidity. 2.2. Potential acidity. 2.3. Cation (positive ion) exchange capacity and saturation with bases. 3. Natural reasons for increasing soil acidification 3.1. Leaching regime. 3.2. Soil-forming rocks and plants. 3.3. The distribution of acid soils. 4. The reasons for anthropogenic acidification of soils. The phenomenon of ...

Soil acidity can affect plant growth directly and indirectly by affecting the plantavailability of nutrients, levels of phytotoxic elements, and microbial activity. Soils may become acidic in the long term as a result of several natural processes. In the short term, however, soil acidity develops mainly due to application of N fertilizers or manure, primarily those having high concentrations of...

Soil pH, soil acidity, and their effects on plants The pH scale, ranging from 0 to 14, is used to indicate acidity and alkalinity. pH is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions (symbol = H) in the water contained in the soil. A pH of 7.0 is neutral, values below 7 are acidic, and those above 7 are alkaline (basic). The lower the pH, the more acid the soil. Each unit pH drop indicates te...

The minerals from which a soil is formed partly determine whether it is acid or alkaline. Soils formed from acidic rocks have a lower pH than those formed from basic rocks or alkaline parent material. Rainfall affects soil acidity development by leaching basic elements such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium from the soil profile, leaving the acidic elements: hydrogen, aluminum and ma...

An article in a recent issue of this journal by Dr. A. C. Chandler on soil acidity and survival of hookworm.larvae begins as follows: " It is a prevalent opinion that acidity in soil has a tendency to shorten the life of infective hookworm larvae. Hirst (1924), for instance, says "a markedly acid reaction is also most unfavourable to the continued survival of hookworm larvae" and remarks that t...

Citation: Collin A, Messier C, Côté B, Fontana M and Bélanger N (2016) Contrasting Nutritional Acclimation of Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and Red Maple (Acer rubrum L.) to Increasing Conifers and Soil Acidity as Demonstrated by Foliar Nutrient Balances. Front. Ecol. Evol. 4:85. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2016.00085 Contrasting Nutritional Acclimation of Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and Re...

Soil acidity, which is characterized by mainly aluminum (Al) toxicity and often calcium (Ca) deficiency, is a serious constraint for crop production in many regions of the world. Soil acidity is traditionally corrected by applications of lime (CaCO3 or Ca(OH)2), which raise soil pH, precipitate Al and provide Ca. However, high rates of lime cannot be afforded because of its high cost relative t...

BACKGROUND Faba bean is an important starch-based protein crop produced worldwide. Soil acidity and aluminium toxicity are major abiotic stresses affecting its production, so in regions where soil acidity is a problem, there is a gap between the potential and actual productivity of the crop. Hence, we set out to evaluate acidity and aluminium tolerance in a range of faba bean germplasm using so...