Basic Knowledge in Agriculture #87
What is Soil Fertility?
In essence, soil fertility can be summed up as a given soil’s ability to supply enough nutrients of each required type in the needed amounts at required proportions in a proper form that are available to the plants while containing no prohibited amount of contaminants. To illustrate it simpler, fertile soil provides the so-called “balance nutrition” to plants.
So, that’s more to nutrients and not the nutrient composition itself, but also having the available nutrients, or plant-available nutrient in simple terms that can be accessed by roots of the plants.
Soil Fertility Soil fertility has three main components: chemical structure of the soil and the nutrient availability and content of the soil; physical structure of the soil; biological fertility of the soil that takes into account organisms and plant root presence within soil. Higher Yields and Quality Plants have their own nutritional need and require macronutrients and micronutrients that would eventually enable the plants to grow and develop healthy organs and roots.
If our soil is capable to supply the plants with an appropriate composition and proportions of macro and micronutrients as well as the so-called “plant available” form of these nutrient elements to facilitate plant root absorb capacity, plants grown under such soil are able to achieve the maximal development and yields of quality product such as fruit, cereals, vegetables and grain with maximal yield of produce as well. In the same time plant of fertile soils acquire better flavor and nutrition values.
More Profit to Farmer The fertility of the soils helps to make use of available elements in the plant nutrition because we have achieved the ideal range of the soil pH and soil physical and biological structure.
That indicates and makes it possible to make a balanced plant nutrition by providing only necessary amount of some supplement for the reason why in the long run they don’t have an excessive input and don’t buy them with additional investments. The lower cost for products which are bought, better profitability for the farmer would get it.
Stronger Pest-And-Disease-Resistance If the plant are growing under such unfavorable conditions, then nutrient deficit usually shows it on themselves with weaker development and more susceptibility to pathogens attack that is pest and plant disease outbreak and spread on the plantations.
In spite of that, pest-,and disease-resistant capacity of plants is directly proportional with their well-developed structural integrity and good quality biological organisms living in them. Healthy Soil Environment In productive soils it can be found not only rich amount of nutrient elements.
A good developed productive and fertile soils have rich organic and humus content that in combination with well-developed root system and porous-spongy structure can accumulate large amount of water to prevent excessive top soil erosion of plants and washing the nutrient matter to waterways (which can then cause problems such as eu.rophication of waters with nutrients.
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