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Nutrient Status and Toxicity Problems in Acid Soils

  • Chapter
Soil Acidity

Abstract

For the purposes of this chapter, an acid soil will be considered as one with a pH value below 7, although serious problems associated with soil acidity are seldom encountered above a pH value of 5.5. Such soils can be very broadly grouped into those the acidity of which stems largely from natural weathering processes and those in which acidity has developed anthropogenically. The major difference between these two groups lies in the mineralogical composition of the clay fraction with the former typically being dominated by kaolinitic, sesquioxidic mineralogy and the latter by a less weathered suite of minerals including a significant 2:1 layer silicate component. This difference in mineralogical composition becomes important in the management of acid soils because the variable charge developed in the former group changes markedly with pH thus having a far greater influence on the capacity of the soil to hold nutrients than in the latter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    A. D. Noble

  2. Department of Soil Science and Agrometerology, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

    A. D. Noble

Authors
  1. M. E. Sumner
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  2. M. V. Fey
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  3. A. D. Noble
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Bodenkunde und Waldernährung der Universität Göttingen, Büsgenweg 2, W-3400, Göttingen, Germany

    B. Ulrich

  2. Department of Agronomy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    M. E. Sumner

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Sumner, M.E., Fey, M.V., Noble, A.D. (1991). Nutrient Status and Toxicity Problems in Acid Soils. In: Ulrich, B., Sumner, M.E. (eds) Soil Acidity. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74442-6_7

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