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The Formation of Calcium Carbonate in the Soil by Bacteria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

C. T. Gimingham
C. T. Gimingham
Affiliation:
(University of Bristol.)
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Extract

The important part played by calcium carbonate in maintaining the fertility of the soil makes it of interest to investigate all the causes which determine both its formation and decomposition. A number of processes which are continually going forward in the soil tend to diminish the stock of calcium carbonate present; yet, in spite of this, and without frequent additions of chalk or lime from other sources, most soils, under normal conditions, remain more or less in a state of fertility. An equilibrium is set up by which the withdrawal of calcium carbonate is balanced by the results of another set of actions which restore base to the soil. This enables many soils which contain only very small quantities of lime to retain their neutral reaction and so to produce fair crops.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , October 1911 , pp. 145 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1911

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References

page 145 note 1 In this connection it is interesting to note that the loss of calcium carbonate from the farmyard manure plot of Broadbalk wheat field at Rothamsted is considerably less per acre per annum than from the unmanured plot. This seems to be due to the conversion of organic calcium salts in the dung into carbonate by the action of microorganisms.

page 146 note 1 The calcium oxalate used in all the experiments was powdered fine enough to pass through a sieve with 100 meshes to the inch.