What is meant by calcareous soils? In arid areas, due to the lack of sufficient moisture, pistachio shell there is a large amount of calcium and carbonate in the soil. In these areas, in the lower depths of the soil due to the phenomenon of carbonation, the amount of lime will increase. Soil lime increases soil pH and thus affects the usability or solubility of some elements. It also affects the hardness of the ground. Symptoms of deficiency of high and low consumption elements in the leaves of pistachio trees in calcareous soils are more evident in terms of increased acidity. The percentage of soil lime is measured by the calcium carbonate index, because calcium carbonate is one of the main constituents of calcareous soils and its amount is much higher than sodium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. If lime is higher than 10%, the soil has disadvantages such as increased alkalinity, deposition of phosphate ions and competition of calcium ions with elements such as sodium and magnesium. Due to the fact that most of the soils in pistachio orchards are calcareous and the main problem is to reduce the absorption of nutrients, sometimes the trees show signs of deficiency of some high-consumption elements (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and low consumption such as iron, zinc, manganese. And copper in terms of high acidity (due to the quality of irrigation water).
