University of Adelaide scientists have developed a new simple, inexpensive and fast method to detect and measure very low concentrations of agricultural lime in soils, which is generally a time consuming and difficult exercise. "Soil acidity can be very damaging to crop production. advertisementLime (calcium carbonate) is typically applied on farms to treat soil acidity. The new method to detect and measure carbonate in soils uses Mid Infrared (MIR) spectroscopy. "With this technology we were able to detect very small amounts of lime that might get lost amongst the other information that is contained in the soil," said Ms Hume.

Source: Ethiopian News December 13, 2021 20:44 UTC