Soil Fertility and Nutrient management (1+1)

Problem of soil acidity

• Soil acidity causes physical, chemical and biological problems in soil.
  1. Physical Problems- in extreme acid soil, soil will be heavily aggregated and very compact like laterite.
  2. Chemical problems are

  a. Acid toxicity
  b. Toxicity of different nutrient elements- such as Fe, Al and Mn are more soluble form
  c. Nutrient availability is reduced especially N, P, K Ca, Mg, Na,
  d. Nutrient imbalances due to fixation of PO4 by Fe, Al and Mn,
  e. Boron and Mo availability decreased

  3. Biological problems: Microbial activity decreases

  a. Bacteria and actinomycetes will not show their activity when the soil pH drops below 5.5.
  b. Nitrogen fixation in acid soils is greatly affected by lowering the activity of Azatobacter sp., and Rhizobium species.
  c. Fungi can grow well under very acid soils and cause various diseases like Foot rot of Black pepper and blights of potato etc.