Causes and effects of acidity in Sahelian soils
1989
Wilding, L.P. | Hossner, L.R.
Extensive areas of the Sahel are covered with sandy acid soils with low buffering capacities and low activity clay systems. This is in marked contrast to most soils of North America, developed in semi-arid conditions. Acidity in these soils is believed to be a consequence of parent sands derived from acid continental terminal deposits, strong paleoclimate and contemporaneous leaching, and base-cycling processes. Acidity in these soils negatively affects land use, soil physical and chemical properties, and plant and crop diversification, and disturbs the balance of pastoral and agrarian agriculture of the region. It makes agronomic research difficult because random variability within plot treatments often exceeds systematic variability due to treatments. The need for continued efforts to determine the scale, magnitude, and extent of spatial soil variability directly or indirectly due to soil acidity is stressed
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This bibliographic record has been provided by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics