Liming of Acidic Soils as a Management Method of Microelement Composition of Cultivated Plants and Elementary Status of Humans and Animals

The influence of deficiency and excess of essential microelements (Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe, B, Co, Mo) on humans, farm animals and crops, factors influencing their distribution in the soil–plant system were considered. It has been shown that liming of acidic soils has a significant and long-term impact on the microelement composition of plants and can lead to their deficiency in food products and animal feed. This soil fertility enhancement technique affects the elemental status of humans and farm animals and should be considered as an additional health risk factor. It has been shown that the decrease in the yield of many crop plants when full doses of lime are applied can be largely associated with a lack of mobile microelement compounds in the soil. It has been substantiated that in order to control the element composition of cultivated plants, the doses of lime ameliorants should maintain the soil acidity at levels that ensure optimal contents of mobile compounds of vital microelements. The deficiency of microelements (Cu, Zn, B, Co, Mn) in limed soils can be compensated by using micronutrient fertilizers.