Abstract
Two acidic soils (initial pH, 4.6) with contrasting soil organic C (SOC) contents (11.5 and 40 g C kg−1) were incubated with 13C-labelled lime (Ca13CO3) at four different rates (nil, target pH 5, 5.8 and 6.5) and three application depths (0–10, 20–30 and 0–30 cm). We hypothesised that liming would stimulate SOC mineralisation by removing pH constraints on soil microbes and that the increase in mineralisation in limed soil would be greatest in the high-C soil and lowest when the lime was applied in the subsoil. While greater SOC mineralisation was observed during the first 3 days, likely due to lime-induced increases in SOC solubility, this effect was transient. In contrast, SOC mineralisation was lower in limed than in non-limed soils over the 87-day study, although only significant in the Tenosol (70 μg C g−1 soil, 9.15%). We propose that the decrease in SOC mineralisation following liming in the low-C soil was due to increased microbial C-use efficiency, as soil microbial communities used less energy maintaining intracellular pH or community composition changed. A greater reduction in SOC mineralisation in the Tenosol for low rates of lime (0.3 and 0.5 g column−1) or when the high lime rate (0.8 g column−1) was mixed through the entire soil column without changes in microbial biomass C (MBC) could indicate a more pronounced stabilising effect of Ca2+ in the Tenosol than the Chromosol with higher clay content and pH buffer capacity. Our study suggests that liming to ameliorate soil acidity constraints on crop productivity may also help to reduce soil C mineralisation in some soils.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aciego Pietri JC, Brookes PC (2008) Relationships between soil pH and microbial properties in a UK arable soil. Soil Biol Biochem 40:1856–1861
Aciego Pietri JC, Brookes PC (2009) Substrate inputs and pH as factors controlling microbial biomass, activity and community structure in an arable soil. Soil Biol Biochem 41:1396–1405
Ahmad W, Singh B, Dijkstra FA, Dalal RC, Geelan-Small P (2014) Temperature sensitivity and carbon release in an acidic soil amended with lime and mulch. Geoderma 214-215:168–176
Anderson TH, Domsch KH (1993) The metabolic quotient for CO2 (QCO2) as a specific activity parameter to assess the effects of environmental conditions, such as pH, on the microbial biomass of forest soils. Soil Biol Biochem 25:393–395
Andersson S, Nilsson SI (2001) Influence of pH and temperature on microbial activity, substrate availability of soil-solution bacteria and leaching of dissolved organic carbon in a mor humus. Soil Biol Biochem 33:1181–1191
Andersson S, Nilsson SI, Saetre P (2000) Leaching of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in mor humus as affected by temperature and pH. Soil Biol Biochem 32:1–10
Baldock JA, Aoyama M, Oades JM, Susanto GCD (1994) Structural amelioration of a South Australian red-brown earth using calcium and organic amendments. Aust J Soil Res 32:571–594
Bertrand I, Delfosse O, Mary B (2007) Carbon and nitrogen mineralization in acidic, limed and calcerous agricultural soils: apparent and actual effects. Soil Biol Biochem 39:276–288
Biasi C, Lind SE, Pekkarinen NM, Huttunen JT, Shurpali NJ, Hyvönen NP, Repo ME, Martikainen PJ (2008) Direct experimental evidence for the contribution of lime to CO2 release from managed peat soil. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2660–2669
Bolan NS, Adriano DC, Curtin D (2003) Soil acidification and liming interactions with nutrient and heavy metal transformation and bioavailability. Adv Agron 78:215–272
Bronick CJ, Lal R (2005) Soil structure and management: a review. Geoderma 124:3–22
Cabrera ML, Beare MH (1993) Alkaline persulfate oxidation for determining total nitrogen in microbial biomass extracts. Soil Sci Soc Am J 57:1007–1012
Dumale WA, Miyazaki T, Hirai K, Nishimura T (2011) SOC turnover and lime-CO2 evolution during liming of an acid Andisol and Ultisol. Open J Soil Sc 1:49–53
Fornara DA, Steinbeiss S, McNamara NP, Gleixner G, Oakley S, Poulton PR, Macdonald AJ, Bardgett RD (2011) Increases in soil organic carbon sequestration can reduce the global warming potential of long-term liming to permanent grassland. Glob Chang Biol 17:1925–1934
Fuentes JP, Bezdicek DF, Flury M, Albrecht S, Smith JL (2006) Microbial activity affected by lime in a long-term no-till soil. Soil Tillage Res 88:123–131
Garbuio FJ, Jones DL, Alleoni LRF, Murphy DV, Caires EF (2011) Carbon and nitrogen dynamics in an oxisol as affected by liming and crop residues under no-till. Soil Sci Soc Am J 75:1723–1730
Gazey C, Davies SL, Masters R (2014) Soil acidity: a guide for WA farmers and consultants, Second edn. Department of Agriculture and Food, South Perth, WA
Gibbons JM, Williamson JC, Williams AP, Withers PJA, Hockley N, Harris IM, Hughes JW, Taylor RL, Jones DL, Healey JR (2014) Sustainable nutrient management at field, farm and regional level: soil testing, nutrient budgets and the trade-off between lime application and greenhouse gas emissions. Agric Ecosyst Environ 188:48–56
Hamilton SK, Kurzman AL, Arango C, Jin L, Robertson GP (2007) Evidence for carbon sequestration by agricultural liming. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 21:GB2021
Haynes RJ (1999) Size and activity of the soil microbial biomass under grass and arable management. Biol Fertil Soils 30:210–216
Haynes RJ, Naidu R (1998) Influence of lime, fertilizer and manure applications on soil organic matter content and soil physical conditions: a review. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 51:123–137
Heanes DL (1984) Determination of total organic-C in soils by an improved chromic acid digestion and spectrophotometric procedure. Commun Soil Sci Plant Anal 15:1191–1213
Hoyle FC, D'Antuono M, Overheu T, Murphy DV (2013) Capacity for increasing soil organic carbon stocks in dryland agricultural systems. Soil Res 51:657–667
Isbell RF (2002) The Australian soil classification. CSIRO Publishing, Canberra
Joergensen RG (1996) The fumigation-extraction method to estimate soil microbial biomass: calibration of the kEC value. Soil Biol Biochem 28:25–31
Joergensen RG, Mueller T (1996) The fumigation-extraction method to estimate soil microbial biomass: calibration of the kEN value. Soil Biol Biochem 28:33–37
Johnson D, Leake JR, Read DJ (2005) Liming and nitrogen fertilization affects phosphatase activities, microbial biomass and mycorrhizal colonisation in upland grassland. Plant Soil 271:157–164
Keller JK, Bridgham SD, Chapin CT, Iversen CM (2005) Limited effects of six years of fertilization on carbon mineralization dynamics in a Minnesota fen. Soil Biol Biochem 37:1197–1204
Kostic L, Nikolic N, Samardzic J, Milisavljevic M, Maksimović V, Cakmak D, Manojlovic D, Nikolic M (2015) Liming of anthropogenically acidified soil promotes phosphorus acquisition in the rhizosphere of wheat. Biol Fertil Soils 51:289–298
Krull ES, Baldock JA, Skjemstad JO (2003) Importance of mechanisms and processes of the stabilisation of soil organic matter for modelling carbon turnover. Funct Plant Biol 30:207–222
Lavahun MFE, Joergensen RG, Meyer B (1996) Activity and biomass of soil microorganisms at different depths. Biol Fertil Soils 23:38–42
Leifeld J, Bassin S, Conen F, Hajdas I, Egli M, Fuhrer J (2013) Control of soil pH on turnover of belowground organic matter in subalpine grassland. Biogeochemistry 112:59–69
Lorenz K, Lal R (2005) The depth distribution of soil organic carbon in relation to land use and management and the potential of carbon sequestration in subsoil horizons. In: Donald LS (ed) Adv Agron. Academic Press, London, pp 35–66
Manzoni S, Taylor P, Richter A, Porporato A, Agren GI (2012) Environmental and stoichiometric controls on microbial carbon-use efficiency in soils. New Phytol 196:79–91
Page KL, Allen DE, Dalal RC, Slattery W (2009) Processes and magnitude of CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes from liming of Australian acidic soils: a review. Aust J Soil Res 47:747–762
Pal R, Bhattacharyya P, Das P, Chakrabarti K, Chakraborty A, Kim K (2007) Relationship between acidity and microbiological properties in some tea soils. Biol Fertil Soils 44:399–404
Paradelo R, Virto I, Chenu C (2015) Net effect of liming on soil organic carbon stocks: a review. Agric Ecosyst Environ 202:98–107
Robson AD (1989) Soil acidity and plant growth. Academic Press Australia, Marrickville, NSW
Rousk J, Brookes PC, Bååth E (2009) Contrasting soil pH effects on fungal and bacterial growth suggest functional redundancy in carbon mineralization. Appl Environ Microbiol 75:1589–1596
Shah Z, Adams WA, Haven CDV (1990) Composition and activity of the microbial population in an acidic upland soil and the effects of liming. Soil Biol Biochem 22:257–263
Six J, Bossuyt H, Degryze S, Denef K (2004) A history of research on the link between (micro)aggregates, soil biota, and soil organic matter dynamics. Soil Tillage Res 79:7–31
Tang C, Rengel Z, Diatloff E, Gazey C (2003) Responses of wheat and barley to liming on a sandy soil with subsoil acidity. Field Crops Res 80:235–244
Tang C, Weligama C, Sale P (2013) Subsurface soil acidification in farming systems: its possible causes and management options. In: Xu J, Sparks DL (eds) Molecular Environmental Soil Science. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 389–412
Topp GC, Galganov YT, Ball BC, Carter MR (1993) Soil water desorption curves. In: Carter MR (ed) Soil sampling and methods of analysis. Lewis Publishers, USA, pp 569–580
van Groenigen KJ, Forristal D, Jones M, Smyth N, Schwartz E, Hungate B, Dijkstra P (2013) Using metabolic tracer techniques to assess the impact of tillage and straw management on microbial carbon use efficiency in soil. Soil Biol Biochem 66:139–145
Vance ED, Brookes PC, Jenkinson DS (1987) An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass C. Soil Biol Biochem 19:703–707
Walkley A, Black IA (1934) An examination of the Degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter, and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sci 37:29–38
Walse C, Berg B, Sverdrup H (1998) Review and synthesis of experimental data on organic matter decomposition with respect to the effect of temperature, moisture, and acidity. Environ Rev 6:25–40
Wang X, Tang C, Mahony S, Baldock JA, Butterly CR (2015) Factors affecting the measurement of soil pH buffer capacity: approaches to optimize the methods. Eur J Soil Sci 66:53–64
Wang X, Tang C, Baldock JA, Butterly CR, Gazey C (2016) Long-term effect of lime application on the chemical composition of soil organic carbon in acid soils varying in texture and liming history. Biol Fertil Soils 52:295–306
West TO, Mc Bride AC (2005) The contribution of agricultural lime to carbon dioxide emissions in the United States: dissolution, transport and net emissions. Agric Ecosyst Environ 108:145–154
WRB IWG (2014) World reference base for soil resources. international soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps. FAO, Rome
You SJ, Yin YJ, Allen HE (1999) Partitioning of organic matter in soils: effects of pH and water/soil ratio. Sci Total Environ 227:155–160
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water as part of its Carbon Farming Futures Filling the Research Gap II Program. We are grateful to the Department of Agriculture and Food, WA and Agriculture Victoria, for access to field soils and to Kaien Ra and Leanne Lisle for their assistance in laboratory analyses.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grover, S.P., Butterly, C.R., Wang, X. et al. The short-term effects of liming on organic carbon mineralisation in two acidic soils as affected by different rates and application depths of lime. Biol Fertil Soils 53, 431–443 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-017-1196-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-017-1196-y