Influence of Soil Amendments on the Growth and Yield of Rice in Acidic Soil

Nur Abdul Halim,Normaniza Osman,Rosazlin Abdullah,Qurban Panhwar,Che Ishak,Saiful Karsani

doi:10.3390/agronomy8090165

Abstract

In Malaysia, about 0.5 million ha of acid sulfate soils are found scattered over the east, west, and Sabah and Sarawak regions that can potentially be cultivated with paddy. This type of soil is acidic and not immediately suitable for crop production unless improved by applying some amendments. Thus, the current study was carried out to investigate the effects of various types of soil amendments on the growth, yield, and physiological responses of rice grown in extremely acidic conditions using ground magnesium limestone (GML), basalt, biochar, and compost as soil amendments. The acid sulfate soil with a pH of 3.76 was obtained from a paddy field in Merbok, Kedah. The plant responses were evaluated based on agronomic, physiological, and yield performance. The compost-treated rice showed the best performance in all three criteria. Compost treatment increased the soil pH up to 6.25. Physiological performances such as chlorophyll, photosynthetic rate, and water use efficiency were higher after compost treatment, while transpiration and stomatal conductance showed the highest after GML treatment. It can be concluded that the addition of compost as a soil amendment can increase soil pH and create favorable soil conditions for rice cultivation in acid sulfate soil, leading to improved rice growth performance.

Highlights

Malaysia’s climate is categorized as an equatorial rainforest fully humid climate (Af), according to Koppen climate classification, due to its proximity to the equator [1,2]
High soil pH changes were observed after 57 days after transplanting (DAT) for ground magnesium limestone (GML), basalt, biochar, and compost, and the reading continuously increased until harvest
Compared to other treatments with the application of soil amendments, the soil pH of the basalt treatment increased at the lowest rate and gave the lowest reading of soil pH

Summary

Introduction

Malaysia’s climate is categorized as an equatorial rainforest fully humid climate (Af), according to Koppen climate classification, due to its proximity to the equator [1,2]. The country is hot and humid all year round, with an average temperature of 27 ◦ C (80.6 ◦ F) and almost no variability in the yearly temperature. This area has tropical soil, most of which is considered as a problem soil, such as peat, sandy soil, acid sulfate soil [3], and highly weathered soil—for example Ultisols and Oxisols [4]—which need special management practices to maximize yields. Acid sulfate soil is not suitable for crop production [6,7].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion