Phosphorus Adsorption-Desorption Isotherm of Lime Treated and Untreated Acid Soils of Assosa and Bambasi Districts, West Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

The objective of the study was to evaluate effects of liming on phosphorus (P) adsorption and desorption capacity of acid soils in Assosa and Bambasi Districts. The soil samples were collected from six rural Kebeles; three from each Kebele and totally 18 samples were collected. The study was conducted in accordance with batch equilibrium method and adsorption values were fitted to Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin models to evaluate the goodness of curve fit. Differences between the models’ indices and soil property parameters were analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study revealed that unlimed soils of Amba-7, Sonka, and Amba-1 sites had higher range of P-sorption maxima (416.7–500.0 mg/kg) than the limed ones. In addition, the limed soils had shown lower adsorption maxima than the unlimed soils based on the Langmuir model. According to Freundlich model, limed soils had a lower K_f value than the unlimed soils. Similarly, Temkin model also verified that unlimed soils had higher b value (sorption energy) than limed soils. Total P desorbed (TPD) value of limed soils had shown a significant difference (p = .022) between the soils of different sites; then soils of Amba-16, Amba-7 and Sonka had relatively higher TPD value than the soils of the left sites. On lime treated soils the total P desorbed had shown increment relative to the untreated soils. The P-sorption isotherm was fitted best to Temkin model than the Langmuir and Freundlich models. Soils of the study area require liming to improve the P-adsorption problem; especially soils of Amba-7, Sonka, and Amba-1.

KEYWORDS:

• Assosa district
• Bambasi district
• limed soils
• phosphorus
• unlimed soils

Acknowledgments

The first author would like to thank Assosa University for giving him the chance of further study and Hawassa University for hosting him as a PhD candidate. Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Higher Education deserves special thank for donating fund to carry out the research work.