Red mud (bauxite residue) as a potential liming alternative for acid soils in Suriname
1983
Simons, A.P. (Suriname Univ., Paramaribo (Suriname). Faculty of Technological Sciences)
Red mud, a waste product of the aluminum industry in Suriname, has a CaCO3 equivalent of 24 and a pH of 11. Although little limestone is imported in Suriname for agricultural purposes, 15,000 ha may potentially benefit of 1.5 tons CaCO3 per ha. About 700,000 tons red mud containing 8 % Na2O and 5 % CaCO3 are being produced yearly in Suriname. Red mud was applied to a sandy loam and clay loam soil of the young coastal plain and sandy clay loam soils of the Zanderij formation. All areas were seeded with Glycine max cv. SJ2. In addition, Brachiara sp and Desmodium ovalivolium, a tropical legume, were grown in plots amended with red mud or CaCO3. Measurements indicated that the pH of red mud ameliorated soils increased to neutrality in all but the clay loam site which showed only a slight increase in pH. A 24-hour laboratory equilibration test with the sandy to clay loam soils indicated that 4 tons/ha of red mud gave similar pH increases as 2 tons/ha CaCO3. Two tons per ha of red mud ameliorated soils averaged 0.2 pH units lower than soils ameliorated with 2 tons/ha CaC03. Soybean field from red mud ameliorated clay loam sites was 1120 kg/ha higher than the control. CaCO3 ameliorated clay loam sites yielded 1137 kg/ha more than red mud ameliorated sites. B. decumbens showed a 1.51 g dry matter increase in plots ameliorated with red mud over the control. Data on pot test with O. ovalivolium indicated no yield response to red mud or CaCO3.
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