Abstract
The proposition that difficulty in establishing pasture in an allophanic soil was caused by aluminium toxicity was examined in a pot trial using ryegrass and lucerne as test plants. Ionic aluminium was added to the soil in the presence and absence of both phosphate and limestone, and its effects on yield and chemical composition of the plants, and on nodulation of lucerne roots, were recorded. Aluminium accumulated in the roots of the plants, in amounts similar to those found for calcium, without depressing yield very much; in fact the small depression which occurred seemed less associated with aluminium than with an accompanying increase in soil acidity. Since ions of aluminium are very toxic where they penetrate living cells, it seems that these plants have an in-built resistance whereby the element is immobilized outside the cell, probably in cell walls and as insoluble phosphates and hydroxides.
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Middleton, K., Smith, G. Effect of aluminium in the presence of phosphate and lime on growth and chemical composition of ryegrass and lucerne. Fertilizer Research 3, 353–366 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048939
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048939