The reason for these questions lies in the fact that the pH, or degree of acidity of the soil, often is a symptom of some disorder in the chemical condition of the soil as it relates to plant nutrition. A measurement of soil acidity or alkalinity is like a doctor's measurement of a patient's temperature. It reveals that something naay be wrong but it does not tell the exact nature of the troubl...

Soil acidification is caused by a number of factors including acidic precipitation and the deposition from the atmosphere of acidifying gases or particles, such as sulphur dioxide, ammonia and nitric acid. The most important causes of soil acidification on agricultural land, however, are the application of ammonium-based fertilizers and urea, elemental S fertilizer and the growth of legumes. Ac...

Forest biogeochemical cycles are shaped by effects of dominant tree species on soils, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We investigated effects of temperate tree species on interactions among carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and acidity in mineral soils from an experiment with replicated monocultures of 14 tree species. To identify how trees affected these soil properties, we eval...

Humic acids are the most active components of soil organic matter and have been shown to have an hormone-like activity thus stimulating plant growth. The objective of this work was to verify the quantitative and qualitative yield responses of the table grape cv. Italia after the application of a humic acid at various phenological stages. The humic acid used in this study has been extracted from...

Declining forest health has been observed during the past several decades in several areas of the eastern USA, and some of this decline is attributed to acid deposition. Decreases in soil pH and increases in soil acidity are indicators of potential impacts on tree growth due to acid inputs and Al toxicity. The Cherry River watershed, which lies within the Monongahela National Forest in West Vir...

the effects of banana continuous cropping on soil quality and chemical properties and crop yield were investigated under continuous cropping for 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 15 years in hainan province, china. the results indicated that the contents of total n, total k, available k, nh4-n, exchangeable ca, and available cu tended to increase, while total organic c (toc), available s, and available zn te...

We quantified soil acidity and exchangeable cations in the forest floor and upper 7.5 cm of mineral soil beneath the canopies of individual trees of six different species in a mixed-species forest in northwestern Connecticut. Soil pH decreased in a sequence starting with sugar maple (Acer saccharum) . white ash (Fraxinus americana) . red maple (Acer rubrum) . beech (Fagus grandifolia) . red oak...

Dendrochemistry has been used for the historical dating of pollution. Its reliability is questionable due primarily to the radial mobility of elements in sapwood. In the present study, the extractability of seven elements was characterized to assess their suitability for the monitoring of environmental conditions. Nine mature sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum Marsh.), a wide-ranging species in ...