Leaching loss of calcium,magnesium, potassium and nitrate derived from soil,lime and fertilizers as influenced by urea applied to undisturbed lysimeters in south-east Nigeria

Calcium hydroxide was applied to monolith lysimeters at Onne in south-east Nigeria. Eight lysimeters were cropped with maize followed by upland rice and four were uncropped. The cropped and two uncropped lysimeters received Mg, K and urea in the first season. Two uncropped lysimeters received no fertilizers. Drainage water was collected during the two growing seasons and analyzed for calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, nitrate and chloride. The fertilizer applied in the second season was not leached during the year of application.The cropped lysimeters lost 27 percent of the sum of the exchangeable Ca in the soil profile and the calcium added, and 29 percent of the corresponding sum for Mg. With no crop, the losses increased to 34 and 37 percent, respectively, but with no crop or fertilizer, the losses were similar to those from the cropped lysimeters. The loss of potassium ranged from 6 percent from the unfertilized lysimeters to 10 percent in the cropped lysimeters. The amounts of sodium leached ranged from 29 to 35 kg Na ha^–1. The bulk of the calcium and magnesium leached from calcium hydroxide and fertilizers occurred in the second season when the loss was in good agreement with the amount of nitrate lost giving (Ca + Mg)/NO₃ charge ratios of approximately one. Urea increased the amount of nitrate leached and led to a corresponding increase in the amounts of calcium and magnesium lost in the drainage water. The charge ratio remained unchanged when the cations were leached only with nitrate derived from the mineralization of soil organic matter. In the cropped lysimeters, this source accounted for about four times more nitrate in the drainage water than the fertilizer.