Secondary macronutrients: advances in understanding calcium cycling in soils, uptake/use by plants and ways of optimizing calcium-use efficiency in crop production

Description

The importance of calcium as a secondary macronutrient can be described in different ways because of its role in soils and its function in plant nutrition. The majority of chemical and some physical soil properties are heavily influenced by calcium content in soil profiles. The available content of soil calcium is usually adequate for normal plant development, but large amounts of calcium are applied to soils with mineral fertilizers (as part of ballast) or as various liming materials used in the manipulation of soil pH. Large amounts of calcium are applied as gypsum for reclamation of sodic soils and for the improvement of physical properties of heavy soils. In this chapter, the authors discuss the role of calcium in soils, plants and as a complex constituent of liming materials used in soil amelioration.

Table of contents

1 Introduction 2 Calcium in soils 3 Calcium in plants 4 Efficient use of calcium in agriculture 5 Conclusion 6 Where to look for further information 7 References