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Soil Fertility

Soil Properties and Clover Establishment Six Years after Surface Application of Calcium-Rich By-Products

Appalachian Farming Syst. Res. Cent., USDA-ARS, 1224 Airport Road, Beaver, WV 25813

^* Corresponding author (Dale.Ritchey{at}ars.usda.gov)

Received for publication June 19, 2003. Calcium-rich soil amendments can improve plant growth by supplying Ca and reducing detrimental effects of soil acidity, but solubility and neutralizing capacity of Ca sources vary. Our objectives were to evaluate effects of calcitic dolomite and several coal combustion by-products on soil properties at various depths 6 yr after surface application and their influence on grass–clover herbage accumulation. Calcium and Mg soil amendments were surface-applied to an acidic grassland in 1993, and orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.) Darbyshire] were oversown in 1994. In 1998, amendment treatment plots were split to accommodate sod seeding with red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) or white clover (T. repens L.) as well as a nonseeded control. No N fertilizer was applied after sod seeding. Six years after amendment application, reductions in soil Al and Mn and increases in Ca and pH from 4654 kg ha^–1 calcitic dolomite, 15000 kg ha^–1 fluidized bed combustion residue, or 526 kg ha^–1 MgO amendment were greatest in the surface 2.5 cm while rates of gypsum as high as 32000 kg ha^–1 left little residual effect except for decreases in Mg. Percentage clover in the sward tripled as pH increased from 4.3 to 5.0 while herbage mass increased 75% as clover percentage increased. Herbage mass was generally more closely correlated with properties of soil samples collected from the surface 2.5 cm than from deeper samples.

Abbreviations: FBC, fluidized bed combustion residue • LSD, least significant difference • TCE, total calcium carbonate equivalent

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