| Arable
Soil acidity can seriously reduce crop yield and
quality – plan your liming now!
Lime use data as reported in The British Survey of Fertiliser Practice for 2016, has shown an alarming reduction in
arable liming, as depicted in Graph 1.
his represents a
20% reduction
against the
previous 3 year
average,
equivalent to
c.500,000 tonnes of ‘lime’!
T
The latest 3 year averages (2014-
2016) show just 3.4% liming in
grassland and 7.7% liming in
arable rotations; equivalent to
liming grassland on a 30 year
cycle and arable land on a 13 year
cycle – this cannot be sustainable!
Furthermore, data collected via
the PAAG surveys (2014-2016)
from 530,000 soil samples showed
55% of grassland and 19% of
arable land tested at, or below pH
6.0.
Routine soil pH testing is
required to ensure consequential
loss of yield and quality is avoided
by maintaining pH at an
appropriate level for the rotation.
Ignoring soil pH and available
calcium can prove to be a very
costly mistake even in the short to
medium term.
LimeX offers very fast acting
(over 85% passing 150um sieve),
but lasting pH correction in arable
and grassland rotations, and can
be used in organic farming
systems. Furthermore, the integral
nutrient package within LimeX
contributes to maintaining soil
fertility and increases available
calcium.
For example, a ‘maintenance’
application of LimeX70 at 5/t ha
will supply a minimum of:
50kg P2O5
35kg MgO
30kg SO3
typically these nutrients are
worth c.£50 per hectare.
LimeX is available to order now
for summer and autumn 2017.
These levels will impact significantly on the utilisation of costly N, P
and K and other nutrients.
Table 1: The impact of low pH on macro-nutrient efficiency.
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk
July 2017 | Farming Monthly | 11