Effect of lime on soil chemical properties and corn growth in Ultisols Lebak, Banten

Abstract

The research aimed to study the effect of lime on soil chemical changes and corn growth in Ultisol Lebak, Banten. The soil used is acidic mineral soil with a pH of 4.8 and a high exchangeable (exch) Al content of 6.3 cmolc kg-1. The research design used was a completely randomized design with 6 treatments of lime doses with 5 replications. The dose of lime applied is based on exch Al namely 0, 0.5; 1.0; 1.5, and 2.0 equivalent to 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 t ha-1, respectively, and 1.0 exch Al of fosfatan. The results showed that lime application improved soil chemical properties as reflected by increasing soil pH, exch Ca, Mg, cation exchange capacity (CEC), base saturation (BS), and decreasing Al content and saturation. In addition, lime application increases the delta of soil pH. Soil acidity (pH) increased from 4.8 to 6.3; exch Ca levels increased from 1.61 to 12.77 cmolc kg-1, exch Mg levels increased from 0.78 to 0.88 cmolc kg-1.