5 Uses of Soil

Advances in watershed, natural resource, and environmental sciences have shown that soil is the foundation of basic ecosystem function. Soil filters our water, provides essential nutrients to our forests and crops, and helps regulate the Earth’s temperature as well as many of the important greenhouse gases.

Soil provides many services and many products. The plants that are grown in soil can be used for food, clothing, recreation, aesthetics, building materials, medicines, and more. The minerals that make up soil particles can be used for dyes, make-ups, and medicines, or shaped into bricks, plates, and vases.

• Agriculture. Soil has vital nutrients for plants.
• Building. Soil is an important part of the building process.
• Pottery. Clay soil is used in making ceramics, or pottery.
• Medicine. Soil is commonly used in antibiotics.
• Beauty Products. Some beauty products are made with soil.

Soil pollution can be controlled by the following measures:

1. By reducing the use of plastics, we can reduce soil pollution.
2. By controlling the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, we can control soil pollution.
3. Treating industrial waste before releasing.

1. Digging over the soil.
2. Add home-made garden compost, bagged compost or well-rotted manure.
3. Dig over the soil deeply again to incorporate the organic matter, mixing it into the soil to the depth of the spade or fork tines.
4. Tread the area, using your heels to firm the soil.

Soil fertility can be further improved by incorporating cover crops that add organic matter to the soil, which leads to improved soil structure and promotes a healthy, fertile soil; by using green manure or growing legumes to fix nitrogen from the air through the process of biological nitrogen fixation; by micro-dose …

Soils supply the essential nutrients, water, oxygen and root support that our food-producing plants need to grow and flourish. They also serve as a buffer to protect delicate plant roots from drastic fluctuations in temperature.

Soil productivity is the ability of a soil to support crop production determined by the entire spectrum of its physical, chemical and biological attributes. Soil fertility is only one aspect of soil productivity but it is a very important one.

Alluvial soil

Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality. A fertile soil has the following properties: The absence of toxic substances which may inhibit plant growth. …

FACTORS AFFECTING SOIL FERTILITY

• Mineral composition – knowing the mineral composition of the soil, we can predict its ability to retain plant nutrients.
• Soil pH – Soil pH is important in maintaining proper soil fertility.
• Soil Texture – Different sized minerals particles give the soil its structure – sand, silt a clay.

The following factors affect the soil fertility:

• Mineral Composition. The mineral composition of the soil helps to predict the ability of the soil to retain plant nutrients.
• Soil pH.
• Soil Texture.
• Organic Matter.
• Adding Manures and Fertilizers.
• Leguminous Crops.

You can improve soil organic matter basically by two ways: adding more organic matter, and not losing the organic matter that you already have. You can add organic matter by growing productive, healthy crops in a diverse rotation. Also include cover crops that will supply both, such as clover and rye.

For others, manure or compost is the answer to increasing soil productivity and plant health. And then there are bagged minerals, organic bagged fertilizers, rock powders and more. These three elements are often called “the big three” and listed as percentage by weight on fertilizer bags (5-10-5, for example).

A fertile soil contains an adequate supply of all the nutrients required for plant growth. A fertile soil is not necessarily a productive one. The second major requirement is that the soil must be adequate for plant growth.

Soil and nutrients Losing topsoil to erosion contributes to a loss of inherent soil fertility levels of nitrogen, P, K, and thus to a decline in potential crop yield. The addition of manure and fertilizer can supply needed crop nutrients and help offset some loss of inherent fertility caused by soil erosion.