DEAS 1165 :2023  
ICS 65.080  
© EA C 2023                                                                                                                           First Edition 2023   
 
DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Agricultural liming materials — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  DEAS 1165 :2023  
ii © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
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Violators may be persecuted  DEAS 1165 :2023  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East Afri can Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers that are encountered when goods a nd services are exchanged 
within the Community will be removed.  
In order to achieve this objective, the Community established an East African Standards Committee mandated 
to develop and issue East African Standards.   
The Committee is composed of represent atives of the National Standards Bodies in Partner States, together 
with the representatives from the private sectors and consumer organizations. Draft East African Standards 
are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the Partn er States. The comments 
received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of standards, in accordance with the procedures 
of the Community.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee EASC/TC 020, Agriculture and 
agrochemicals.  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 1165 :2023  
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  1 
 Agricultu ral liming materials — Specification   
 
1 Scope  
 
This draft East African  Standard specifies the requirements, methods of sampling and tests for agricultural 
liming materials.  
 
This standard applies to agricultural liming materials, including limestone, (cal citic and dolomitic). quicklime 
(burnt lime), hydrated lime, slag and shells    
 
2 Normative references  
 
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this standard. For dated 
references, only the edition cited applies. For un dated references, the latest edition of the referenced 
document (including any amendments) applies.  
 
ISO 8157 , Fertilizers soil conditioners and beneficial substances — Vocabulary  
 
ISO 8397 , Solid fertilizers and soil conditioners — Test sieving  
 
ISO 14820 -1, Fertilizers and liming materials — Sampling and sample preparation — Part 1: Sampling  
 
ISO 148 -2, Fertilizers and liming materials - Sampling and sample preparation - Part 2: Sample preparation  
 
AOAC 2006.03, Arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, mead, mo lybdenum, nickel, and selenium in fertilizers 
— Microwave digestion and inductively coupled plasma -optical emission spectrometry  
 
ISO 20978, Liming Materials — Determination of neutralizing value — Titrimetric method  
 
ISO 7409, Fertilizers  -Marking - Presentation and declarations  
 
 
3 Terms and Definitions  
 
For the purpose of this standard, the terms and definitions in ISO 8157  and the following apply.  
 
 
3.2 
limestone  
a material consisting essentially of calcium carbonate or a combination of calcium carbon ate with magnesium 
carbonate capable of neutralizing soil acidity  
 
3.3 
Burnt/Quicklime  
a material, made from limestone which consists essentially of calcium oxide or combination of calcium oxide 
with magnesium oxide  
 
3.4 
calcium carbonate equivalent (C.C.E .) 
the acid neutralizing capacity (of an agricultural liming material) of the material expressed as weight percent of 
calcium carbonate  
 
  
2 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 3.5 
fineness  
the percentage by weight of the material which will pass sieves of specified sizes  
 
3.6 
hydrated lime  
a material, made from lime, which consists essentially of calcium hydroxide or a combination of calcium 
hydroxide with magnesium oxide and/or magnesium hydroxide  
 
3.7 slag  
the non -metallic product, consisting essentially of silicates and aluminosilicates of c alcium and other bases, 
that is developed in a molten condition simultaneously with iron in a blast furnace  
3.8 shells  
any calcium -rich materials derived from the hard protective outer case of animal origin that can 
produce  Calcium Oxide  (CaO) or lime.  
 
 
 
4 Requirements  
 
 4.1 General requirements  
Agricultural liming materials shall be in form of powder, dust, granules, pellets or liquid formulation. Except 
Liquid agricultural lime all other forms are subject  to sieve analysis classification  
 
4.2 Specific  requirements  
 
Agricultural liming materials requirements in terms of calcium carbonate equivalent (C.C.E) are shown in Table 1.  
 
Table 1 — Agricultural liming materials requirements  
 
No. Material  Calcium carbonate 
equivalent (CCE), % min  Test Method  
i) Quicklime  140  
 
ISO 20978  ii) Hydrated lime  110 
iii) Limestone  80 
iv) Slag 80 
v) Shells  80 
 
 
4.2 Physical Requirements for agricultural lim ing material s 
 
 
The sieve analysis shall be done in accordance with ISO 8397 . Agricultural lim ing materials  shall be classified  
according to the  minimum percentage passing the no. 8(2.36 -mm) and no. 60(250µm/0.25mm) as shown in 
Table 2.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  3 
 Table 2 — Sieve analysis classification for agricultural lim ing materials  
 
Class 
designation  Passing no. 8(2.36mm) sieve,  
min per cent  Passing no. 60(250µm sieve, 
min, per cent  
S 100 100 
T 99 75 
O 95 55 
N 90 40 
E 80 25 
 
5 Contaminants  
Heavy metal contamination in Agricultural liming materials shall not exceed the limits given in table 3 
when determined by the methods prescribed in  AOAC 2006.03 . 
 
 
 
Table 3 — Heavy metal contaminants limits  
 
SL No.  Parameter  Limits in ppm  Test methods  
    
i) Arsenic, As, max.  20.0  
    
ii) Cadmium, Cd, max.  15.0 
AOAC 2006.03     
iii) Mercury, Hg, max.  0.1  
    
iv) Selenium, Se, m ax. 1.0  
    
v) Lead, Pb, max.  30.0  
    
 
 
 
 
6 Sampling  
 
Sampling and sample preparation shall be carried out in accordance with ISO 14820 -1 and ISO 14820 -2 
respectively . 
 
 
 
7 Packaging, Marking and labelling  
 
7.1 Packaging  
 
Agricultural lime can be s upplied in bulk or packaged as agreed between buyer and seller. If supplied in 
package, the package shall be in clean and non -defective material that protects the product from physical and 
chemical contamination and withstand multiple stages of handling (t ransportation and storage).  
 
 
7.2 Marking and Labelling  
 
7.2.1 The fertilizer package  shall be legibly and indelibly marked in accordance with ISO 7409 in either 
English  or any other official language  with the following information;   
4 © EAC  2023  – All rights reserved  
 a) name and the address of  the producer/manufacturer/packer;  
b) type of the agricultural liming material;  
c) the brand or trade name of the material;  
d) the identification of the product as to the type of the agricultural liming material;  
e) the net weight of the agricultural liming material;  
f) the percentage of calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE)  
g) the percentage of calcium oxide and magnesium oxide neutralizing value  
h) Country of origin  
i) Handling instructions  
j)  Production date and expiry date  
k) Batch number  
l) Storage conditions  
 
NB: Liming materials supp lied in bulk shall bear the above information’s   
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved  5 
 Bibliography  
 KS 2526:2016 Agricultural liming Materials -Specification  WD TC020 -04-2023    
 
© EAC 2023  – All rights reserved