Soil fertility and mans effect on the soil.

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Soil fertility and mans effect on the soil

The phase soil fertility refers to how well plants will grow in a specific soil. There are many aspects to soil fertility these are :-

  • The type of soil
  • The structure of the soil
  • The acidity
  • The minerals in the soil
  • Man

The type of soil refers to the texture and the type of particles that make up that soil. There are three types of particles sand, silt and clay. Each of the different particles has different characteristics which can help a soils fertility. A sandy soil is well drained and easily cultivated but they are vulnerable to drought as well as needing lots of fertilisers because the nutrients are easily leached out. A silty soil tend to lack minerals but more moisture is retained because of the smaller pore size, but heavy rain can cause cementing and the risk of sheetwater increases as well as erosion.

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Clay soils are rich in nutrients but are very difficult to plough and become waterlogged easily.

The best soil is a loam soil this is because it has equal shares of the particles and uses the positive things from each one.

A soils structure is a major factor in the fertility of a soil. If the soil is layered horizontally this can cause water logging as the layers are tightly compacted the water gets trapped between each layer. The best structure for plants to grow is a crumb or granular form where there are individual particles which join together ...

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