Just ten tips on how to identify soil fertility!

Soil is the root of plant growth, soil fertilizer directly determines the composition of crops and growth environment, crop quality directly affects the taste, product equality. So what about soil fertility?

1. Look at the soil color

Rich soil is darker; Thin soil is lighter.

Soil color is closely related to soil, moisture content, humus content, light-colored minerals (such as alumina, silica, calcium carbonate, etc.) content, and dark-colored minerals (such as iron oxide, biotite, manganese oxide, etc.) content in soil. Therefore, soil color is a reflection of soil material composition and properties. It is also an important basis for judging and studying the soil forming environment, soil type and fertility characteristics.

Most of the areas in China are loess, and some special areas also have other colors of soil, such as the nutrient-rich black soil in the Northeast Plain, which is suitable for planting wheat, sorghum, soybeans and so on. The red soil in Fujian is alkaline, so it is suitable for growing alkaline plants of tea. The purple soil in Sichuan area is suitable for growing rice and so on.

2. Look at the depth of the soil layer

The soil layer is generally larger than 60 cm; Lean soil is relatively shallow.

The quality of soil texture is related to the level of soil fertility and the amount of oxygen content. Such as plum blossom, phoenix tree, nuclear pick and other plants like rich and deep soil, should be planted in deep, fertile and loose soil. Such as pinus tabulatus, masson pine, etc., can be planted in the location of slightly poor soil quality. Of course, plants that are tolerant to flimsy plants grow better on rich soil.

3, look at the soil ploughability

The fertile soil layer is loose and easy to cultivate. The thin soil layer is sticky to the plow, and the cultivation is laborious.

Soil cultivability refers to the physical characteristics of soil suitable for tillage, which is a comprehensive reflection of soil adhesion, adhesion and plasticity during tillage. The soil adhesion is strong, the farm tools are not easy to enter the soil, and the soil blocks are not easy to break up; Large adhesion, easy to adhere to farm tools, farming resistance; Strong plasticity, easy to become mud, dry soil compaction.

The lower limit water content of clay is less than 16%, the range of suitable water content is small, and the suitable ploughing period is short. The plastic limit value of sandy soil is as high as about 23%, the suitable water content range is large, and the suitable tillage period is long. Loam is somewhere in between.

4, look at the soil slurry and cracks

The rich soil is not easy to be deposited, and the cracks in the soil are many but small. Thin soil is easy to paste, easy to harden, soil cracks are few but large.

5, look at the soil water retention capacity

Water infiltration is slow, irrigation once water can maintain 6 ~ 7 days as fertilizer soil; Thin soil that does not percolate or percolates quickly along cracks is thin soil.

Clay has the best water retention capacity, but the permeability of clay is the worst. On the contrary, sandy soil has the worst water retention capacity. The water retention capacity of loam soil is between clay and sandy soil.

6. Look at the water quality

Water slippery, sticky feet, sunshine or feet when the big bubble for the soil; The water quality is light and colorless, the paddy field does not bubble, or the bubbles are small and easy to disperse for thin soil.

7. Watch the night tide phenomenon

There are night tides, dry and wet, not easy to dry, sun hard for the soil; There is no night tide phenomenon, and the soil hardening is thin soil.

8, look at the ability to keep fertilizer

Soil with strong fertility, sufficient and long-term fertility, or high potential fertility is a fertile soil.

The ability of soil to supply the required nutrients during the whole process of crop growth. Due to the different characteristics of soil itself, the size and speed of fertilizer supply capacity are different. The soil is usually rich in organic matter, the fertilizer strength is long and stable, and the fertility is smooth and harmonious. The sandy soil with little organic matter has the forward strength but the back strength is insufficient, and the clay soil has the back strength but the front strength is insufficient. Soil fertility availability is an important index to identify soil fertility.

9. Look at plants

The soil that grows red head sauce, goose feather, cress, etc., is the fertile soil; The soil that grows the hair grass, the duck's tongue grass, the three-edged grass, the wild orchid, the wild onion and so on is the thin soil.

Soil fertility can be improved by planting legumes. Rhizobium bacteria, which grow on the roots of legumes, fix nitrogen in the air and increase the amount of nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen is the most important element in plant life, and when plants get a lot of nitrogen, they thrive. Therefore, in agricultural production, people often plant legumes to improve soil fertility and achieve the purpose of increasing production.

10. Look at animals

There are snails, loaches, earthworms, leeches and so on for the fertilizer soil; There are small ants, big ants and so on for thin soil.

Animals in the soil mainly chew or tear plant tissue, or move and stir in the soil to provide conditions for further decomposition of plant residues by microorganisms. Soil animal activities can increase soil permeability. The most important large animal in the soil is the earthworm, which can digest and decompose the organic matter in the soil. The earthworm can also transport a large number of undecomposed organic matter to the deep layer of the soil, mix it with the underlying soil, and improve the structure of the underlying soil. Earthworm droppings are a very good fertilizer.

Soil fertility is the basic attribute and characteristic of soil, and it is a comprehensive reflection of the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of soil related to agricultural production. Soil has fertility, plants can settle and develop on the soil, good soil can grow good crops, can harvest good agricultural products.