EFFECT OF VARIOUS RATES OF LIMING AND FERTILIZATION ON CERTAIN CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF A STRONGLY ACID SOIL AND ON THE ESTABLISHMENT, YIELD, BOTANICAL, AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF A FORAGE MIXTURE
In a field experiment, application of increasing rates of dolomitic limestone and 0-20-20 fertilizer to a strongly acid sandy loam produced marked changes in the chemical properties of the soil and in the composition and yield of a forage mixture grown thereon. The magnitude of the changes decreased as rates of limestone and fertilizer increased.Liming the soil caused decreases in exchangeable K and in Al extractable with N KCl. The latter change was particularly marked when soil pH was raised from 4.6 to 5.4.Legume species showed good establishment at all pH levels above 5.4 and relative sward density was highest at a pH of 6.2 to 6.6.Irrespective of fertilization rate dry-matter yields of forage were practically doubled by the 2.5-ton rate of limestone which changed soil pH from 4.6 to 5.4. There were also marked yield increases from fertilizer regardless of liming rate. The data further show that optimum yields resulted from liming to pH 6.0–6.5 and application of 400 lb per acre of 0-20-20.