Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-ckgrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-18T07:25:45.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of potassium and magnesium application to soils on the dry-matter yield and cation composition of maize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. S. Bedi  and
G. S. Sekhon
G. S. Sekhon
Affiliation:
Department of Soils, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In a glasshouse experiment, fertilizer potassium and magnesium were applied in various amounts to 20 soils differing in the proportion of exchangeable potassium to the sum of the three exchangeable cations, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Maize, cv. Ganga-5, was grown as the test crop.

In soils where the exchangeable cation ratio (K/Σ (K + Mg + Ca), in equivalents) was less than 0·025, potassium fertilizer significantly increased the dry-matter yield of maize. In soils where this ratio was between 0·026 and 0·05, application of potassium fertilizer was beneficial only up to the intermediate amount of 11 mg K/kg soil. Beyond this amount of application, addition of magnesium was necessary to increase yields. In soils where this ratio exceeded 0·05, potassium fertilizer reduced yields.

An optimum ratio of exchangeable calcium, magnesium and potassium appears more important than their absolute amount. Magnesium application to high-potassium soils improved the cation equivalent ratio within the plant and the dry-matter yield.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 88 , Issue 3 , June 1977 , pp. 753 - 758
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alten, F., Ratjtenberg, E. & Loofman, H. (1940). Der Einfluss des Kalis auf den stickstoffhausholt der Pflanzen. Bodenkunde und P flanzenernährung 19, 22–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anon. (1968). Annual Report of the Results of Simple Fertilizer Trials on Cultivators' Fields for Kharif-rabi, 1967–68. New Delhi: Indian Council of Agricultural Research.Google Scholar
App, F., Ichiskaka, V. & Gill, T. S. (1956). The value of green manure crops in farm practice. In Better Crops with Plant Food, 40 (3), pp. 16, 22, 41–3; 40 (4), 9–16.Google Scholar
Barber, S. A. (1968). Mechanism of potassium absorption by plants. In The Role of Potassium in Agriculture (ed. Kilmer, V. J. et al. ). Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.: American Society of Agronomy.Google Scholar
Bear, F. E. (1950). Cation and anion relationships in plants and their bearing on crop quality. Agronomy Journal 42, 176–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bower, C. A., Reitmeier, R. F. & Fireman, M. (1952). Exchangeable cation analysis of saline and alkali soils. Soil Science 73, 251–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, K. L. & Bray, R. H. (1951). Determination of calcium and magnesium in soil and plant material. Soil Science 72, 449–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drake, M. & Scarseth, G. D. (1939). Relative abilities of different plants to absorb potassium and the effect of levels of potassium on absorption of calcium and magnesium. Proceedings Soil Science Society of America 4, 201–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hovland, D. & Caldwell, A. C. (1960). Potassium and magnesium relationships in soils and plants. Soil Science 89, 92–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Itallie, T. B. Van (1938). Cation equilibria in plants in relation to the soil. Soil Science 46, 175–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K. E. E., Davis, J. F. & Benne, E. J. (1957). Control of magnesium deficiency in Utah 10B celery grown on organic soil. Proceedings Soil Science Society of America 21, 528–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kansal, B. D. & Sekhon, G. S. (1974). Influence of potassium application on dry matter yield and cationic balance in wheat. Agrochimica 18, 94–101.Google Scholar
Lyon, C. B., Beeson, K. C. & Barrantine, H. (1942). Macroelement nutrition of the tomato plants as correlated with fruitfulness and occurrence of blossom end rot. Botanical Gazette 103, 651–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sehgal, J. L., Hall, G. F. & Bhargava, G. P. (1975). An appraisal of the problems in classifying salinesodic soils of the Indo-Gangetic plain in NW India. Geoderma 14, 75–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sekhon, G. S., Aboba, C. L. & Soni, S. K. (1975). Nutrient status of wheat crop in Ludhiana. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis 6, 609–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stilwell, T. (1972). Characterisation of the responses to potassium fertilization on three Punjab (India) soils. M.Sc. thesis, Ohio State University, Columbus, U.S.A.Google Scholar
USDA (1954). Diagnosis and Improvement of Saline and Alkali Soils. Handbook no. 60. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Velley, J. (1972). Fertilizing rice fields. Report of 3 years experiments at Ivolinia Station (Madagascar). Agronomia Tropical 27, 655–66.Google Scholar
Wallace, A., Toth, S. J. & Bear, F. E. (1948). Further evidence supporting cation equivalent constancy in alfalfa. Journal of the American Society of Agronomy 40, 80–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, T. & O'Donohoe, R. F. (1945). Magnesium deficiency in some crop plants in relation to the level of potassium nutrition. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 35, 254–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar