Sugar lime (CARBOCAL ®) is a co-product of the production of sugar consisting mainly of calcium carbonate (> 30% CaO + MgO). The regulations of Spanish fertilizers consider it a liming which can be used as a pH corrector in acidic soils. However, its precipitation in organic compounds occluded as saponins, proteins, oxalates, pectins, citrate, malate, sulfates and inorganic forms of phosphorus at a moderate further showing content and other organic nutrients. Numerous tests conducted since 1959 have shown that this combination of organic and inorganic elements gives the sugar lime properties and other interesting effects. Some results are: positive effects on soil physical properties (increased permeability and hydraulic conductivity , decrease of modulus of rupture, less possibility of crusting and overall easier cultivation). As well as this there is increased availability of phosphorus, not only in acidic but also in neutral soils, increased supply of nitrogen to the crop by activating the mineralization of N in the soil, increases in available Ca and Mg and a suppressive effect of beet root rot by the fungus Aphanomyces and Plasmodiaphora cochlioides brassicae (Clubroot, hernia root of crucifers). This paper presents the software tool AppSoil, developed for calculating dosing sugar lime, topsoil and other organic amendments. Based on analysis of the soil to be improved and the crop that will be grown there, the application calculates the required dosage of lime per hectare, taking into account the type of irrigation and the change in pH to be achieved. In addition, the tool returns the increase in nutrients that the lime brings to the soil and its economic value compared to the market prices of various fertilizers. It shows various examples of sugar lime application in diverse types of soil and crops and the results obtained.

6 páginas.-- 5 figuras.-- 1 tabla.-- 14 referencias.-- Comunicación oral presentada en el VII Congreso Ibérico de Agroingeniería y Ciencias Hortícolas. Madrid (2013)

Campus Mocloa.-- EurAgEng.-- Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias (INIA).-- Universidad Politéncica de Madrid

Peer Reviewed