Alternative methods to correct soil acidity are needed because farmers who adopted no-tillage no longer want to plow soils to incorporate lime. Two experiments were carried out during the years 1993-1996 under no-tillage to evaluate the response of soybean, wheat, corn, oat and barley to lime applied on the surface of soils with 380 g kg-1 clay (LEd-Haplorthox) and with 580 g kg-1 clay (LRd-Haplorthox). A completely randomized block design, with three replications and seven treatments, was used. The treatments were established based on the SMP lime requirement method to reach pH 6.0, from soil samples taken from the 0-20 cm depth and were: control, incorporated lime and five levels of surface-applied lime (1 SMP, 1/2 SMP, 1/4 SMP, 1/8 SMP and 1/16 SMP). Only soybean in 1994, and soybean and barley in 1996, showed significant yield increases due to lime. At the recommended rate (1 SMP) there were no significant differences between incorporated and surface-applied lime. Considering the cost/benefit ratio, the lime rates which offered the highest financial return were 1/16 SMP, for the LEd soil, and 1/8 SMP, for the LRd soil, when barley was excluded from the economic analysis. When barley was included, the rates which gave the best return were 1/4 SMP and 1/2 SMP, respectively, for the LEd and LRd soils. Soil samples collected nearly three years after lime application showed that the addition of lime on the surface of soils, without incorporation, corrected soil acidity and significantly increased soil pH only in the 5 cm top layer. It is concluded that there is no drawback in using surface-applied lime on soils whose acidity was neutralized by incorporated lime several years before and which have a good nutrient level.
soil acidity; lime; soybean; wheat; corn; oat; barley