The Effect of Liming on Carbon Mineralization in Acid Soils

Application of lime to acid soils is a common practice to ameliorate soil acidity, the short term and long-term effect of which has not been looked upon much.To study the short-term effect of liming on acid soils an incubation study was conducted with different doses of lime for 48 days in the soils of Raipur.Long-term effects were observed by studying the total organic carbon and computing carbon input in the long term fertilizer experiment (LTFE) samples of Ranchi.In both cases, it was observed that liming decreased carbon reserves in the soil by promoting carbon mineralization and microbial respiration.In the study incubation, cumulative carbon that was mineralized was maximum in higher doses of lime and in LTFE soils, 100% NPK and lime treated plots had lower total organic carbon compared to other treatments even though carbon input was high.This shows that liming promotes carbon mineralization and additional management practices are required to balance the losses.