Chapter One

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Chapter One

• The Importance of Soil

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The Importance of Soil

• The history of Soil
• Dates back all the way to the Egyptians
  civilization of 4,000 years ago
• Recently in the US history supplies another
  example of soil misuse. This is with the Dust
  bowl of the 1930s.
• The Dust bowl was a drought that misused the soil
  in having wind erosion.

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The Importance of Soil

• Additional acreage is lost due to urbanization or
  degradation .
• Soil is a nonrenewable resource

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The Importance of Soil

• Most of the time we take soil for granted.
• Soil is a very thin and often fragile layer of
  life supporting material.

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The Importance of Soil

• Facts about the earth
• Earth consists of solid part (core, mantle, and
  crust) and the atmosphere surrounding it.
• Most of the earth is covered by sea
• Where continents exist the crust is thicker
• This is usually about 50 miles thick

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The Importance of Soil

• The atmosphere is about 170 miles deep.
• The soil forms a very thin interface between the
  two.

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The Importance of Soil

• What does living things need?
• Proper temperature
• Oxygen
• Water
• Carbon
• Other nutrients
• These factors are exchanged in the soil that
  allow elements to be recycled rather than lost

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The Importance of Soil

• Oxygen
• Plant roots need oxygen to grow.
• Gases will pass in and out of the soil to supply
  the oxygen for the roots

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The Importance of Soil

• Temperature
• Plants will grow best in certain soil temperature
  ranges.
• Most plants will root in temperature around 40-50
  degrees F.
• Water
• Seldom stays in one place

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The Importance of Soil

• Carbon
• Plant leaves collect sunlight to use the energy
  in the process of photosynthesis.
• Which involves converting atmosphere carbon to
  biological carbon
• Atmosphere carbon carbon dioxide
• Biological carbon simple sugars

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The Importance of Soil

• Nutrients
• Plant nutrients are chemicals a plant needs to
  grow.
• There are two types of nutrients cycles
• Nitrogen cycle
• Mineral cycle

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The Importance of Soil

• Nitrogen
• Comes directly from the atmosphere where it
  occurs as a gas that plants cannot use.

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4 Needs of Soil

• There are four needs of the soil
• Anchorage
• Water
• Oxygen
• Nutrients

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4 Needs of Soil

• Anchorage
• This is where plants grow freely and are firmly
  supported or anchored so they can grow to reach
  the sunlight.
• Water
• Soil will provide the plants with all the water
  the plant needs
• Roots are the best water absorbing body .

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4 Needs of Soil

• Oxygen
• Call creature even plants need oxygen. Plants
  release oxygen during photosynthesis but consume
  it during respiration.

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4 Needs of Soil

• Nutrients
• There are 16 nutrients usually considered to be
  needed for plants.
• Plants obtain 13 of the 16 nutrients from the
  soil itself.
• Other nutrients come from Air and water.
• Carbon
• Oxygen
• hydrogen

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3 phase system

• What is soil Matrix?
• It is the arrangement of solid particles and
  pore spaces which consists of three phases of
  solid , liquid, and gases.

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3 phase system

• The ideal Soil Type
• 50 solid material
• 45 mineral particles
• 5 organic matter
• 25 water
• 25 gases

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3 phase system

• Root Growth
• Water reaches the root by two ways
• either water flows toward the root
• Or the root grows into moist soil

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Ag Uses of Soil

• Humans depend on soil to grow food, fiber,
  timber, and ornamental plants.
• Most Ag uses require different soil types and
  management practices

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4 Types of Ag Uses

• 1. Cropland
• Cropland is land which soil is worked and crops
  are planted, cared for, and harvested.
• Crops that are grown
• Annual crops are corn and soybeans
• Fiber crops are cotton horticultural crops like
  vegetables.

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4 Types of Ag Uses

• Annual Crops
• Require yearly soil preparation
• Perennial Forages
• Are alfalfa.
• Which are crops that are in the ground for a few
  years
• These crops keeps the soil completely cover and
  keeps the soil in place.

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4 Types of Ag Uses

• Perennial Hort. crops
• This includes fruits, nuts, and nursery stock

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4 Types of Ag Uses

• 2. Grazing Land
• Much of the land in the US is grazed by cattle
  and sheep

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4 Types of Ag Uses

• 3. Forest
• Foresters probably disturb soil the least,
• 4. Other Uses
• This usually deals with growing plants in tiny
  pots and usually with Landscapers

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Non Ag Uses of Soil

• A few of the Non Ag uses of soil are
• Recreation
• Foundations
• Waste Disposal
• Building Materials

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Non Ag Uses of Soil

• Recreation
• Recreational uses of the soil can be
• Sitting in a urban park and seeing kids play on
  the playground, softball diamond,
• They can also be golf courses, campgrounds.
• Most demanding recreational use is the use of
  playing fields. As most of the time there is a
  demand to have good grow on turf that can with
  stand about anything.

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Non Ag Uses of Soil

• Foundations
• A good builder usually will have the soil tested
  to a dept of several feet.
• The structural soundness of a building depends on
  the amount of soil that is under the building.

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Land Uses in the US

• 27 is in rangeland
• 26 is in cropland
• 27 is in forestland
• 2 is in conservation reserve land
• 4 is in other land
• 6 is in urban land
• 8 is in pastureland

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