Techniques for assessing plant responses on acid soils

Abstract

Techniques to measure plant responses to acid-soil conditions including field trials, glasshouse experiments with soils or in solution culture, and short-term root elongation studies are reviewed. Field experiments conducted to study the mechanisms involved in plant responses to liming and to develop diagnostic criteria for acid soils are reviewed. Greenhouse techniques used to screen plant material for tolerance to soil acidity are described. Solution culture experiments can be used to study the effects of changing one factor of the soil-acidity complex without affecting others. Therefore, the effects of pH, Ca, Mg, Al, Mn and P can be examined separately. In short-term bioassays, a large number of plants, soils or treatments can be examined with minimal expense of time and resources.