Liquid micronized CaCO3: an alternative to correct the pH of an acidic soil and improve pineapple development

Abstract

In southern Veracruz, Mexico, edaphic acidity reduces pineapple development and yield. From July/2018 to January/2019, an experiment was conducted under rainfed conditions to determine the effect of liquid micronized CaCO₃ on the edaphic pH and the initial vegetative development of pineapple in acidic soils of Isla, Ver. A randomized block design with four replications and four treatments was utilized: control without liming (T1), application of 2.0 t ha^-1 of dolomite (T2), and 10.0 (T3) and 20.0 (T4) L ha^-1 of liquid micronized CaCO₃. The edaphic pH was measured, before liming and at 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after sowing (das), at depths of 0-5, 5-15 and 15-30 cm, and the biomass (fresh weight of leaves and stem) produced at 60, 90 and 120 das was determined. Up to 90 das, with dolomite, optimal soil pH values ??were reached for pineapple, significantly higher than that of liquid CaCO₃ in both doses. At 120 das, with 20 L ha^-1 liquid CaCO₃, the pH was greater than 5.0 in the three sampled strata, with statistically similar values ??to those of dolomite and higher than those of the low dose of micronized CaCO₃ and the control. On this latter date, 1,346 g of plant biomass^-1 were produced with 20 L ha^-1 of micronized CaCO₃, an amount statistically similar to that obtained with dolomite and the low dose of micronized CaCO₃ and significantly higher than the control.