Liming is essential in modern agriculture to increase yield and fertilizer efficiency. Generally the addition of lime causes changes in soil chemical attributes. The objective of this study was to verify the trend of such changes in the surface horizons of an Oxisol and an Ultisol of the São Paulo State, Brazil. The attributes studied were: sum of bases, pH in water and KCl N, Al3+, H+, cation exchange capacity (CEC) at pH 7.0 and at soil pH, anion exchange capacity (AEC), extractable phosphate and sulphate, P-adsorption and available Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu. The results indicated that liming increased soil pH, sum of bases, CEC at soil pH and extratable P; decreased the relationship, <img src="http:/img/fbpe/sa/v54n12/54n12a1fo1.gif" alt="54n12a1fo1.GIF (252 bytes)" align="top">, Al3+, AEC and extractable SO42-; and caused no change in CEC at pH 7.0, P-adsorption and available micronutrients.
liming; Oxisol; Ultisol; chemical attributs
