Abstract
For Tanzanian soils dominant in hydrous oxides of iron and amorphous ferri-alumino silicate, a 48-hour (hr) mixing period with the sulphate (SO4) solution was adequate for a near-equilibrium condition. Although differing in their SO4 sorption capacity, all the soils sorbed SO4 at or beyond 1µg ml−1 sulphur (S) concentration in the supernatant. Hydroxyl (OH) ions were displaced during SO4 sorption as indicated by a significant positive correlation between the amount of sorbed SO4 and the difference in pH values determined in 0.1N K2 SO4 and 0.1N KCl, i.e. the dpH values.
In a greenhouse experiment, alfalfa was grown on eight soils at six adjusted S concentrations. Sulphur deficiency symptoms appeared in the control pots of those soils which were low in native sorbed SO4, SO4 sorption capacity and initial soil solution S concentration. Sulphur fertilization increased dry matter (DM) yield as well as response to applied S. The external S concentration, i.e. adjusted S concentration required for 95% of the maximum DM yield, ranged from 0.8 to 8.2µg S ml−1 with values less than 2.0 on most of the soils. The external S concentration decreased hyperbolically as the SO4 sorption capacity of the soils increased. The total amount of fertilizer S required to obtain the external S concentration in solution, and at the same time satisfy the SO4 sorption capacity of the soil at the external S concentration (determined from the sorption isotherm) was defined as the external S requirement for the specified yield level of alfalfa. The external S requirement for 95% of the maximum yield of alfalfa varied from soil to soil due to differences in their capacity and intensity for S nutrition.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexaides CA and Jackson ML (1966) Quantitative clay mineralogical analysis of soils and sediments. Clays and Clay Minerals 14, 35–52
Allison LE (1965) Organic carbon. In Black CA, Evans DD, Ensminger LE, White JL and Clark FE, eds. Methods of soil analysis, pp 1367–1379. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy
Bardsley CE and Lancaster JD (1960) Determination of reserve sulphur and soluble sulphate in soils. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 24, 265–268
Beckwith RS (1964) Sorbed phophate at standard supernatant concentration as an estimate of the phosphate needs of soils. Aust J Exp Agric and An Husb 5, 52–58
Bremner JM (1965) Total nitrogen. In Black CA, Evans DD, Ensminger LE, White JL and Clark FE, eds. Methods of soil analysis, pp. 1149–1178. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy
Chao TT, Harward ME and Fang SC (1965) Exchange reactions between hydroxyl and sulphate ions in soils. Soil Sci 99, 104–108
Fox RL, Plucknett DL and Whitney AS (1968) Phosphate requirements of Hawaiian latosols and residual effects of fertilizer phosphorus. Int Cong Soil Sci Trans 9th (Adelaide, Australia) 2, 301–310
Fox RL and Kamprath EJ (1970) Phosphate sorption isotherms for evaluating the phosphate requirements of soils. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 34, 902–907
Harward ME and Reisenauer HM (1966) Reactions and movements of inorganic soil sulphur. Soil Sci 101, 326–335
Hasan SM, Fox RL and Boyd CC (1970) Solubility and availability of sorbed sulphate in Hawaiian soils. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 34, 897–901
Jackson ML (1967) Soil chemical analysis advance course. Madison, Wisconsin: ML Jackson
Kilmer VJ (1965) Silicon. In Black CA, Evans DD, Ensminger LE, White JL and Clark FE, eds. Methods of soil analysis, pp 959–962. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy
McLean EO (1965) Aluminium. In Black CA, Evans DD, Ensminger LE, White JL and Clark FE, eds. Methods of soil analysis, pp 978–998. Madison, Wisconsin: American Society of Agronomy
Ozanne PG and Shaw TC (1968) Advantages of the recently developed phosphate sorption test over the older extractant methods for soil phosphate. Int Cong Soil Sci Trans 9th (Adelaide, Australia) 2, 273–280
Rajan SSS (1978) Sulphate sorbed on hydrous alumina, ligands displaced and changes in surface charge. Soil Sci Soc Am J 42, 39–44
Rengasamy P, Sarma VAK and Krishna Murthi GSR (1975) Quantitative mineralogical analysis of soil clays containing amorphous materials: A modification of the Alexaides and Jackson procedure. Clays and Clay Minerals 23, 78–80
Schwertmann U and Fischer WR (1973) Natural ‘amorphous’ ferric hydroxide. Geoderma 10, 237–247
Singh BR, Uriyo AP and Kilasara M (1979) Sorption of sulphate and distribution of total, sulphate and mineralisable sulphur in some tropical soil profiles in Tanzania. J Sci Food Agric 30, 8–14
Singh T, Gangwar BR and Mehrotra CL (1971) Phosphate sorption studies to determine phosphorus requirement of soil for cereal crops. Proc Int Symp on Soil Fert Evaluation (New Delhi) I, 111–118
Soil Survey Staff (1975) Soil Taxonomy: A basic system of soil classification for making and interpreting soil surveys. Agric Handbook 436. Washington DC: United States Department of Agriculture
Tabatabai MA and Bremner JM (1970) A simple turbidimetric method for determining total sulphur in plant material. Agron J 62, 805–806
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Part of a thesis by the senior author for the MSc (Agric) degree of the University of Dar es Salaam
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Swai, S., Singh, B. Predicting external sulphur requirement of alfalfa from sulphate sorption isotherm of Tanzanian soils. Fertilizer Research 3, 411–422 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048944
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048944