CALCIUM DEFICIENCY IN CLAYEY B HORIZONS OF SAVANNA OXISOLS

Abstract

The restriction of crop root growth in Cerrado (savanna) Oxisols often reduces yields because the volume of soil explored by the roots is insufficient to supply enough water during dry periods that occur in the rainy season. A recent soil survey of the 580 000 hectares of the Federal District in Central Brazil shows a number of profiles that have clayey B21 horizons within 50 centimeters of the surface with very low levels of exchangeable calcium + magnesium (0.2 milliequivalents per 100 grams or less) and no exchangeable aluminum. The hypothesis that root penetration in such subsoils is limited by lack of calcium, rather than by aluminum toxicity, is supported by the results of simple and inexpensive tests showing that the addition of 0.10 to 0.15 meq/100 g calcium as chloride, phosphate, or carbonate effectively normalized seedling root growth, which, in the absence of such additions, stopped within a few days. The addition of magnesium carbonate, however, did not improve root growth. To test whether the leaching of calcium salts might ameliorate the calcium deficiency in the subsoil, samples were taken from an experiment that had received about 2500 kg/ha calcium as limestone and ordinary superphosphate at installation 2 years previous. Compared with root growth in samples from adjacent virgin soil, these soils showed improved root growth to as deep as 75 cm, thus suggesting that fertilizer management can have a beneficial effect on subsoil rooting in such soils.