Over time the acidity of soils tends to increase. The addition of calcium carbonate lime helps stabilise the acidity of the soil and provides essential calcium for support of crops. Liming is well understood to hold the key to improving crop growth and yields by limiting the adverse effects of high soil acidity (low pH values).

Lime also plays a major role in improving:
• Soil structure and drainage
• Nutrient uptake
• Root development
• Biological activity

Recently there is a renewed focus on the role lime plays in Fertilizer Efficiency.

Nitrogen
Maintaining the optimum pH in grassland soils will improve the release of soil N by 50 to 70kgN/ha/ yr from soil organic N reserves. This reduces the requirements for applied N and offers a large financial saving in the region of €60 to 80/ha/yr.
Source Teagasc, Johnstown Castle

Phosphorus
Phosphorus is now the most expensive nutrient to buy and world P stocks are decreasing thus making it more expensive into the future.

Maintaining the correct soil pH will pay dividend in terms of increasing the utilisation of both soil and applied P as manure or bag P fertiliser. To maximise P uptake in grassland aim to maintain pH 6.3 and for tillage soils aim for pH 6.5.

Source Teagasc, Johnstown Castle