Liming of acid soil and the interaction with soil pH and corn productivity

Abstract Liming is the dominant technology to treat acidic soils, which is indicated by low soil pH. Improvement of soil pH can be made using dolomite application to overcome aluminum (Al) toxicity and release phosphate and potassium nutrients to become available for plants. This study aims to test the effectiveness of dolomite in improving soil pH, corn productivity, and dolomite dose. Field testing was done in Pasar VI Kwala Mencirim Village, Sei Bingai District, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra from April to August 2020 using a non-factorial randomized block design with seven treatments and four replications: Dolomite 0 X (D0) 0 ton ha−1, Dolomite 0.5 X (D1) 1 ton ha−1, Dolomite 1.0 X (D2) 2 ton ha−1, Dolomite 1.5 X (D3) 3 ton ha−1, Dolomite 2.0 X (D4) 4 ton ha−1, Dolomite 2.5 X (D5) 5 ton ha−1, and Standard Dolomite (DS) 2 ton ha−1. Dolomite treatment was given one week before planting by sowing evenly on the experimental plot. They showed that dolomite application to D1, D2, D3, and D4 could increase soil pH, resulting in higher plant height and corn production than D0 and DS. The optimum dose of dolomite is 2 ton ha−1 on acid soils. Liming acid soil can increase soil pH from acid to neutral and increase corn production by 1.91 times compared to without dolomite application.