Paper Details

PJB-2024-551

Impact of acidic agents on nutrients availability, growth and crop production of Vicia faba (L.) plant in calcareous soil

Amal A.M. Al-Ghamdi and Manal El-Zohri
Abstract

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The purpose of the present study was to overcome unfavorable alkaline characteristics of calcareous soil, via acidification, for cultivating faba bean (Vicia faba L.). V. faba seeds were grown for 90 days in calcareous soil that collected from Jeddah region, Saudi Arabia. Soil was treated with acidifying compounds; namely, ammonium sulfate (AS), calcium sulfate (CS), elemental sulfur (ES) and acetic acid (AA) at two concentration levels of 200 and 400 mg/Kg for each (100- and 200-ml acetic acid), to neutralize the hyper-alkaline nature of the calcareous soil. Germination, growth, crop yield, metabolites (chlorophyll, total proteins, carbohydrates, and free amino acids) and soil minerals (K, Ca, Mg, N, P, Cl and P₂O₅) contents exhibited significantly enhancing impact of the applied treatments as well as soil validation for agriculture. Improvement in soil characteristics, as field capacity and pH, were also recorded. Ammonium sulfate at a concentration of 400 mg/Kg soil induced generally the highest significant enhancement in most of the studied parameters and hence it is considered the most recommended treatment and dose. The other treatments induced enhancement in some or several of the parameters. The least efficient treatment was acetic acid as it induced minor significance in most of the studied parameters. In general, the applied acidification treatments relieved the drawbacks of calcareous soil as inferred from V. faba performance, according to the following order: AS4 ˃ AS2 ˃ CS4 ˃ CS2 ˃ ES4 ˃ ES2 ˃ AA2 ˃ AA1 (AS ammonium sulfate, CS calcium sulfate, ES elemental sulfur; 2 and 4 refers to 200 and 400 mg/g soil, respectively).

 

To Cite this article: Al-Ghamdi, A.A.M. and M. El-Zohri. 2026. Impact of acidic agents on nutrients availability, growth and crop production of Vicia faba (L.) plant in calcareous soil. Pak. J. Bot., 58(1): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2026-1(23)  
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