An Attempt to Evaluate the Effect of Varying Time Intervals Between Liming and Cropping on an Oxisol

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted on an Oxisol with pH 5.0 in northwestern Puerto Rico in an attempt to determine whether the time interval between liming and cropping affected yields, yield components, and other plant characters. Six lime-cropping interval treatments were tested with two cultivars of succeeding crops of field beans and corn in a split plot design. Two cultivars were used as indicator crops in each case. The liming-cropping intervals ranged from planting immediately after liming to planting 10 months after liming (liming on a bimonthly basis). No significant yield differences attributable to treatments could be detected for either crop. In the same fashion, no significant differences were obtained on the various yield components and plant characters studied except for the fact that the 27R fieldbeans from plots limed 10 months prior to planting were smaller than those from plots limed just before planting. The effectiveness of liming Oxisols with pH 5.0 seems not to depend on the time interval that elapses between liming and planting.