Effect of Zinc and Dolomite Treatments on the Chemical Composition of Acid Sandy Soil and Bean Crop

Abstract

The impact of the application of 4,500 kg ha⁻¹ dolomite with or without 40 kg ha⁻¹ ZnSO₄ 7H₂O on the elemental composition of bean and soil as well as on agronomic properties of the crop were examined in a pot experiment. The application of dolomite increased soil ammonium lactate–extractable magnesium content threefold and that of calcium by 80%. Application of zinc increased ammonium lactate–extractable zinc content by 100%. The increase of 0.8 pH unit from 5.4 (Ø-Ø) to pH 6.2 (Ø-dolomite) was accompanied by a significantly lower zinc, manganese, and potassium content of the plant material. Magnesium and potassium antagonistic effects manifest in plant composition and soil–plant relationships but not in soil. Magnesium and phosphorus show contradictory relationships: negative in soil and plant but positive in soil–plant relationship. The dry mass of bean shows the order of ZnSO₄-dolomite > ZnSO₄-Ø > Ø-dolomite > Ø-Ø.

Keywords:

• Acidity
• ANOVA
• antagonism
• brown forest soil
• correlation matrix
• pot experiment

Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the support of the Hungarian National Science Foundation (OTKA) Grant No. NN 79835.