Liming Influences Forms of Acidity in Soils Belonging to Different Orders under Subtropical India

A pot experiment was conducted to study the influence of liming on changes in different forms of acidity in relation to soil properties. Thirty-six surface (0-15 cm deep) soil samples were collected from different soil orders, namely Entisols, Inceptisols, Alfisols, and Entisols of coastal saline zone of West Bengal, India, and incubated for 21 days with three doses of lime [i.e., no lime (L 0 ), half lime (L 1/2 ), and full lime (L 1 )]. Results of analysis of soil showed that there were significant increases in pH in water (pH w ) and pH in 0.02 M calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) (pH Ca ) (1.3 and 1.5 units) and decrease in total acidity, hydrolytic acidity, exchange acidity, electrostatically bound aluminium (EBAl 3+ ), and electrostatically bound hydrogen (EBH + ) upon liming being from 1.53 to 0.57, 1.40 to 0.54, 0.13 to 0.03, 0.08 to 0.01, and 0.06 to 0.02 cmol (p + ) kg −1 , respectively. The decrease in values of all the forms of acidity was greater in L 1 than in L 1/2 treatment under Entisols of the terai zone, followed by Entisols of coastal saline zone, Inceptisols, and Alfisols. The forms of acidity showed significant positive correlation with each other but negative correlation with pH w and pH Ca , except for EBH + .