Effects of humic acid-based buffer + cation on chemical characteristics of saline soils and maize growth

• Main Authors: W. Mindari, N. Aini, Z. Kusuma, Syekhfani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Brawijaya 2014-10-01
• Series: Journal of Degraded and Mining Lands Management
• Subjects: compost; cations; humic acids; maize
• Online Access: http://jdmlm.ub.ac.id/index.php/jdmlm/article/view/97

Humic acid is believed to maintain the stability of the soil reaction, adsorption / fixation / chelate of cation, thereby increasing the availability of water and plant nutrients. On the other hand, the dynamics of saline soil cation is strongly influenced by the change of seasons that disrupt water and plant nutrients uptake. This experiment was aimed to examine the characteristics of the humic acid from compost, coal, and peat and its function in the adsorption of K+ and NH4+ cations, thus increasing the availability of nutrients and of maize growth. Eighteen treatments consisted of three humic acid sources (compost, peat and coal), two cation additives (K+ and NH4+), and three doses of humic acid-based buffer (10, 20, and 30 g / 3kg), were arranged in a factorial completely randomized with three replicates. The treatments were evaluated against changes in pH, electric conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), chlorophyll content, plant dry weight and plant height. The results showed that the addition of K+ and NH4+ affected pH, CEC, K+, NH4+, and water content of the buffer. Application of humic acid-based buffer significantly decreased soil pH from > 7 to about 6.3, decreased soil EC to 0.9 mS / cm, and increased exchangeable Na from 0.40 to 0.56 me / 100g soil, Ca from 15.57 to 20.21 me/100 g soil, Mg from 1.76 to 6.52 me/100 g soil, and K from 0.05-0.51 me / 100g soil. Plant growth (plant height, chlorophyll content, leaf area, and stem weight) at 35 days after planting increased with increasing dose of humic acid. The dose of 2.0g peat humic acid + NH4+ / 3 kg of soil or 30g peat humic acid + K+ / 3 kg of oil gave the best results of maize growth.