Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity
Highly weathered tropical acidic soils are characterized by low pH, low organic matter, and aluminium and iron toxicity. These factors pose a challenge to achieving sustainable agriculture. The continued increase in the human population with the accompanied increasing food demand have negatively imp...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
2021
|
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/96442/ |
| _version_ | 1848862365787881472 |
|---|---|
| author | Hamidi, Nur Hidayah Ahmed, Osumanu Haruna Omar, Latifah Huck, Ywih Ch'ng |
| author_facet | Hamidi, Nur Hidayah Ahmed, Osumanu Haruna Omar, Latifah Huck, Ywih Ch'ng |
| author_sort | Hamidi, Nur Hidayah |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Highly weathered tropical acidic soils are characterized by low pH, low organic matter, and aluminium and iron toxicity. These factors pose a challenge to achieving sustainable agriculture. The continued increase in the human population with the accompanied increasing food demand have negatively impacted the global N cycle partly because of excessive use N fertilizers particularly urea which is commonly used in agriculture. Ammonia volatilization from urea as an example, negatives the environmental quality. This study focuses on soil-N availability, pH, exchangeable acidity, Al3+, and H+ of a highly weathered acid soils (Bekenu series) through the combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea. To this end, an incubation study was conducted for 90 days through the combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea to determine if this approach could improve soil N availability and pH at the same time reducing exchangeable acidity, and Al3+, and H+ toxicity. The amount of urea used was fixed at 100% as the recommended rate. Charcoal and sago bark ash were varied by 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively of the recommended rate. Selected soil physico-chemical properties were determined using standard procedures. This study revealed that combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea increased soil pH and base cations simultaneously the approach also reduced exchangeable acidity, exchangeable Al3+, and exchangeable H+. There were no significant differences in soil total N, exchangeable NH4+, and available NO3− for the combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea and urea alone because of the acid neutralizing effect of the amendments. Apart from the sago bark ash’s liming effect, the high affinity of the functional groups of the charcoal for Al3+ might have impeded Al3+ from undergoing hydrolysis to produce more H+ because a complete one mole of Al3+ hydrolysis produces three moles of H+. Thus, the combined use of charcoal and sago bark ash can mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity, although this approach has minimal effect on-N. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:15:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-96442 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:15:52Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-964422023-01-26T06:25:39Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/96442/ Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity Hamidi, Nur Hidayah Ahmed, Osumanu Haruna Omar, Latifah Huck, Ywih Ch'ng Highly weathered tropical acidic soils are characterized by low pH, low organic matter, and aluminium and iron toxicity. These factors pose a challenge to achieving sustainable agriculture. The continued increase in the human population with the accompanied increasing food demand have negatively impacted the global N cycle partly because of excessive use N fertilizers particularly urea which is commonly used in agriculture. Ammonia volatilization from urea as an example, negatives the environmental quality. This study focuses on soil-N availability, pH, exchangeable acidity, Al3+, and H+ of a highly weathered acid soils (Bekenu series) through the combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea. To this end, an incubation study was conducted for 90 days through the combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea to determine if this approach could improve soil N availability and pH at the same time reducing exchangeable acidity, and Al3+, and H+ toxicity. The amount of urea used was fixed at 100% as the recommended rate. Charcoal and sago bark ash were varied by 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively of the recommended rate. Selected soil physico-chemical properties were determined using standard procedures. This study revealed that combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea increased soil pH and base cations simultaneously the approach also reduced exchangeable acidity, exchangeable Al3+, and exchangeable H+. There were no significant differences in soil total N, exchangeable NH4+, and available NO3− for the combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea and urea alone because of the acid neutralizing effect of the amendments. Apart from the sago bark ash’s liming effect, the high affinity of the functional groups of the charcoal for Al3+ might have impeded Al3+ from undergoing hydrolysis to produce more H+ because a complete one mole of Al3+ hydrolysis produces three moles of H+. Thus, the combined use of charcoal and sago bark ash can mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity, although this approach has minimal effect on-N. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2021 Article PeerReviewed Hamidi, Nur Hidayah and Ahmed, Osumanu Haruna and Omar, Latifah and Huck, Ywih Ch'ng (2021) Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity. Agronomy-Basel, 11 (9). art. no. 1799. pp. 1-15. ISSN 2073-4395 https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/9/1799 10.3390/agronomy11091799 |
| spellingShingle | Hamidi, Nur Hidayah Ahmed, Osumanu Haruna Omar, Latifah Huck, Ywih Ch'ng Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity |
| title | Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity |
| title_full | Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity |
| title_fullStr | Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity |
| title_short | Combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity |
| title_sort | combined use of charcoal, sago bark ash, and urea mitigate soil acidity and aluminium toxicity |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/96442/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/96442/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/96442/ |