The influence of increasing the magnesium/calcium ratio of liming materials on sugar cane growth in Mauritius

Code (CO)	MSI99P0060
Author (AU)	Ng Kee Kwong, K. F. Cavalot, P. C. Deville, J.
Title - English (ET)	The influence of increasing the magnesium/calcium ratio of liming materials on sugar cane growth in Mauritius
Document Type(DT)	Periodical article
Date of publication (DP)	1989
Series (SE)	Revue agric. sucr. Ile Maurice
Source (SO)	68: 77-83
Notes (NO)	Published 1991
Language of text (LT)	En
Language of summaries (LS)	En Fr
Abstract (AB)	Field studies were performed to determine whether magnesium (Mg) containing liming agents should be used in sugarcane cultivation to offset the known depressive effect of liming on soil exchangeable Mg. The data obtained showed that liming with dolomite or with dolomite-coral sand mixtures did not have any beneficial effect on sugarcane yields. This lack of yield response upon liming is attributed to the occurrence of an already satisfactory Mg status in the soils. No evidence emerged to show that the Mg nutrition of sugarcane was hampered by application of coral sand. The improvement in the soil Mg/Ca ratio observed upon dolomite application support the view that a wide range of Mg/Ca ratio may persist in soils without any effect on sugarcane growth. The present study confirms that in sugarcane cultivation liming should be aimed at raising soil pH to 5.0 or thereabouts.
Descriptors - English (DE)	SUGARCANE SOIL AMENDMENTS MAGNESIUM CALCIUM LIMING LIMING MATERIALS PLANT NUTRITION GROWTH SOIL MANAGEMENT
Descriptors - Geographic (DG)	MAURITIUS
Sort Key 1(K1)	Sugarcane: Soils and plant nutrition
Sort Key 2 (K2)	Cane growth and nutrition
Date record entered (DA)	1991-12-06
Language of analysis (LA)	En
Affiliation (AF)	Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute
Location (LO)	LIB
Processing status (PS)	CAT
MSIRI Staff (MS)	CHEM