Liming effect on dissolved organic matter leaching

The main agrochemical treatment applied in agriculture to lower harmful soil acidity is liming. Long term studies showed that application of calcium carbonate fertilizer brought about higher leaching of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in pot, lysdmetric and field experiments. Outflows obtained from limed soils contained 44.8% more DOM in comparison with nonlimed soils. During four years of lysimetric experiments it was found that the amounts of DOM from limed soils were increased by 52.7%. In the field experiments the amounts leached from one hectare of limed and nonlimed soil ranged 25.6 kg and 19.2 kg per year, respectively. DOM leached from limed soils was characterized by higher (45.4%) contents of carboxylic groups and humic substances (19.7%). Dissolved organic substances particularly humus rich in functional groups, due their complexing properties bound plant nutrients leached from soils and modify geochemical mobility of metals and anions. Therefore, DOM can play a significant role in the migration of chemical substances in agriculture landscape.