Effects of calcium and aluminum in the soil solution of acid, surface soils on root elongation of mungbean

Abstract

Short term root growth bioassays using mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) were conducted on 39 surface soils in the unamended state and following the addition of CaCO3 or CaSO4.2H2O. Root length after 48 h growth was related to solid phase and soil solution Ca and Al attributes. Suitable diagnostic indices for the prediction of Ca limitations to root growth were either Ca saturation of the cation exchange capacity or Ca activity ratio (CAR) defined as the ratio of the activity of ca2+ in the soil solution to the summed activities of Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+ and Al3+. Values corresponding to 90% relative root length were 34% for Ca saturation and 0.10 for CAR. The activities of Al3+ and AlOH2+ were the Al attributes most strongly correlated with root growth; an Al3+ activity of 1.9 µm~ and an AlOH2+ activity of 0.46 µm corresponded to 90% relative root length. The results suggest that organically complexed Al and the ion pairs Al(OH)+2, Al(OH)04 and AlSO+4 are not plant-toxic. The most effective diagnostic criterion for A1 toxicity in this study was the calcium-aluminium balance (CAB), defined as 2 log(Ca2+) - 6 log(Al3+). The CAB value corresponding to 90% relative root length was 31. The correlation between root growth and CAB was further improved by inclusion of a pH term; this may indicate toxic effects of H+ per se.