Optlime, a bioecenomic model of soil acidity management in agricultural systems

Optlime is a model that represents the essential biological, physical and economic factors related to soil acidity management in Western Australia. The model allows users to define site and soil characteristics for an acidic scenario and then simultaneously assess likely outcomes for 2 different lime sources and application strategies. With and without liming scenarios are examined over a 20 year simulation so as to capture the long-term impacts of soil acidity management. Output provided allows you to examine the likely effect of liming on pH, exchangeable aluminium, yields, and profits. An investment appraisal is provided to show you how liming might stack up financially using a variety of time horizons. Optlime is not a lime recommendation tool, and should never be used as one. In practice, responses to liming for apparently similar situations can be very variable. The simplifications in the model do not allow us to fully account for this variability. For this reason, Optlime should be seen as an aid to understanding the management of soil acidity, not as a recipe