SOIL FERTILITY

CONSERVATION AND
MANAGEMENT
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SOIL FERTILITY

Before Present

*There exist fertile and productive soils *Initiative to improve and maintain soil
as evident by man searching for such. fertility to sustain productivity

*Soil fertility is supported by:

Euphrates & Tigris Rivers, Iran,
Iraq and Turkey
Ganges River - India
Yellow River - China
Nile River - Greek and Egypt
Soil fertility - quality that enables a soil to
provide the proper compounds in the
proper amounts and in the proper
proportion, for the proper growth of
specified kind of plants when all factors
are favorable for growth.

Soil Productivity - capability of the soil to

produce a specified plant under a
specified system of management
 Requisites of Soil Fertility

To be fertile, a soil must have conditions favorable

for the development and functioning of plant
roots.

(1) Favorable physical properties

a) good aeration and drainage
b) proper moisture holding capacity
(2) Favorable chemical properties
a) optimal reaction [pH]
b) high buffer capacity
c) high nutrient holding capacity
[CEC]
d) absence of toxic materials (salinity,
toxic organic and inorganic compounds)
(3) Favorable microbiological properties
a) active functioning of beneficial
organisms
b) suppressed activity of harmful
organisms
(4) Abundant and well balanced nutrient
supply
a) macro-nutrients (N,P,K,Ca,Mg,S)
b) micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Mo, Mn,
Fe, Cl, B, Ni)
OPTIMUM

•Most conducive to a favorable outcome

•Ideal, best on a level to be applied
•Amount or degree that is best or most
effective (webster)
Justus von Liebig's Law of the Minimum

•states that yield is proportional to the amount of

the most limiting nutrient, whichever nutrient it
may be.
•From this, it may be inferred that if the deficient
nutrient is supplied, yields may be improved to
the point that some other nutrient is needed in
greater quantity than the soil can provide, and
the Law of the Minimum would apply in turn to
that nutrient.
THE SOIL AS A MEDIUM FOR PLANT GROWTH

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN SOILS

Criteria of essentiality:

1. a deficiency of the element makes it

impossible for the plant to complete the
vegetative of reproductive stage of its life.
2. the deficiency symptom of the element in
question can be prevented or corrected only
by supplying the element, and
3. the element is directly involved in the
nutrition of the plant.
There are 17 essential nutrient elements required for the
growth and reproduction of plants.

The elements can be grouped into categories according to

their source and scarcity in relation to plant needs:

Element Derived from the Atmosphere and Water :

Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), Oxygen (O)

Elements derived from the Soil

Macro-nutrients Primary: N, P, K
Secondary: Ca, Mg, S
Micro nutrients: Fe, B, Mn, Zn, Cu,Cl, Mo, Ni
 FORMS IN WHICH ELEMENTS
OCCUR IN SOIL
1. Unavailable - is the form in which the
element is combined as a part of a
compound and is not accessible to
plant absorption until the compound
is “decomposed”.

2. Exchangeable form - is the form which

the element exists as a cation or anion
adsorbed (surface attraction) on the
surface of organic compounds or clay
minerals. The exchangeable ions are
partly available to plants.
3. Solution form - is assumed to be the
most available form.
Element Symbol Available Form/s
Carbon (C) CO2
Hydrogen (H) H2O
Oxygen (O) HCO3 -
Nitrogen (N) NH4+, NO3-
Phosphorus (P) HPO4=, H2PO4-
Potassium (K) K+
Calcium (Ca) Ca+2
Magnesium (Mg) Mg+2
Sulfur (S) SO4=, SO3=
Iron (Fe) Fe+2, Fe+3
Manganese (Mn) Mn+2, Mn+3
Zinc (Zn) Zn+2
Molybdenum (Mo) Mo04-2
Chlorine (Cl) Cl -
Boron (B) BO3 -3
Nickel (Ni) Ni+2

Copper (Cu) Cu + 2
Effect of Soil pH on Nutrient Availability
SOIL PROFILE
Plants’ Essential Elements

Macro and Micronutrients

 Nutrients

• MACRO- • MICRO-required
required in in small
relatively large amounts, minor
amounts or trace
elements
 Macro: non-mineral elements
• Carbon (C)
• Hydrogen (H)
• Oxygen (O)
 Macro: primary nutrients
• Nitrogen (N)
• Phosphorus (P)
• Potassium (K)
 Macro: secondary nutrients
• Calcium (Ca)
• Magnesium (Mg)
• Sulfur (S)
Micronutrients
• Iron (Fe)
• Copper (Cu)
• Zinc (Zn)
• Boron (B)
• Molybdenum (Mo)
• Manganese (Mn)
• Chlorine (Cl)
• Nickel (Ni)
 Nitrogen
 it is a part of many proteins
which serve as enzymes and
also is a part of the
chlorophyll molecule. It is
found in greater quantities
in young or growing parts
of plants than in the older
tissues and especially
abundant
in the leaves and seeds.
 Nitrogen
• Deficiency noted
when leaves are a
sick, yellow-green
color
• Short stems, small
leaves, pale colored
leaves and flowers
• Slow and dwarfed
plant growth
 Phosphorus
it is present in seeds in larger
amounts than in any other
parts of plant, although it is
found extensively in the
young growing parts. Like
nitrogen it is a constituent of
every living cell. It is a
constituent of
phospholipids,
nucleoproteins, and phytin,
the latter being a storage
form of phosphorus in seeds
 Phosphorus
• Symptoms of
deficiency include
slow maturity
• Older leaves are a
purplish color
• Decrease in growth
 Potassium
• Used to form
carbohydrates and
proteins
• Formation and
transfer of starches,
sugars, and oils
• Increases disease
resistance, vigor,
and hardiness
 Potassium
• Deficiency
symptoms include
mottled, spotted,
streaked or curled
leaves
• Scorched, burned,
dead leaf tips and
margins
 Calcium
Calcium- in the form of
calcium pectate is a part of
the cell wall and is
necessary for the growth
of meristems. It also exists
in plants in the oxalate
form.
( C6H10O7 ) Calcium Pectate
 Calcium
• Symptoms of
deficiency include
small developing
leaves, wrinkled older
leaves
• Dead stem tips
• Blossom End Rot (BER)
 Magnesium
• Influences the
intake of other
essential nutrients
• Helps make fats
• Assists in
translocation of
phosphorus and
fats
 Magnesium
• Deficiency
symptoms include
interveinal chlorosis-
yellowing of leaves
between green veins
• Leaf tips curl or cup
upward
• Slender, weak stems
 Sulfur
• Promotes root
growth and
vigorous vegetative
growth
• Essential to protein
formation
 Sulfur
• Deficiency
symptoms include
young leaves are
light green with
lighter colored
veins
• Yellow leaves and
stunted growth
Copper
• Helps in the use of
iron
• Helps respiration
Copper
• Deficiency
symptoms include
young leaves are
small and
permanently wilted
• Multiple bud at
stem tips
Zinc
• Helps plant
metabolism
function
• Helps form growth
hormones
• Aids in
reproduction
Zinc
• Deficiency includes
retarded growth
between nodes
(rosetted)
• New leaves are thick
and small
• Spotted between
veins, discolored
veins
Copper and Zinc – They are components
of enzymes. Both are apparently
necessary for formation of growth
promoting substances
Boron
It functions in carbohydrate
metabolism and facilitates
the
movement of the sugar by
forming a
permeable boron- sugar
complex or
by joining the cell membrane
in such
a way that is made more
permeable
to sugars.
Boron
• Deficiency
symptoms include
short, thick stem tips
• Young leaves of
terminal buds are
light green at base
• Leaves become
twisted and die
Iron
• Essential for
chlorophyll
production
• Helps carry
electrons to mix
oxygen with other
elements
Iron
• Deficiency
symptoms include
mottled and
interveinal chlorosis
in young leaves
• Stunted growth and
slender, short stems
Manganese
• Aids in plant metabolism
• Helps in nitrogen
transformation
• Manganese is also
involved in pollen
germination, pollen tube
growth, root cell
elongation and
resistance to root
pathogens.
Manganese

• Deficiency
symptoms include
interveinal
chlorosis
• Young leaves die
Iron and Manganese – Both iron and
manganese play important role in
plant enzyme systems. They are
required for the chlorophyll synthesis.
Their utilization in the plant is
interrelated - an excess of manganese
causes an inactivation of the iron.
Molybdenum
The reduction of nitrate
in plant is dependent on
Mo. A deficiency results
in the piling up of
nitrates and an
interference in protein
synthesis. Nitrogen
fixation in legumes is
also dependent in the
presence of Mo.
Molybdenum
• Deficiency symptoms
include Distorted
leaves with reduced
leaf area and chlorotic
leaf margins.
• stunted growth
• Yellow leaves, upward
curling leaves
• Leaf margin burn
Chlorine
• Essential to some
plant processes
• Acts in enzyme
systems
Chlorine
This element is rarely,
if ever deficient for
plant growth.
Functions attributed
to Cl include those
of a regulator of
osmotic pressure and

cation balance.
Nickel - known to be essential for
nitrogen fixation of the free-living
cyanobacterium, Nostoc muscorum .
It works as a cofactor to enable
urease to catalize the conversion of
urea into NH4+
Deficiency symptoms in
legumes are exhibited as
whole leaf chlorosis along
with necrotic leaf tips
(caused by the
accumulation of toxic levels
of urea)
 Macro and Micro Nutrients
• Remember:
• Ca Fe Ni CHOPKiNS Mnaged By
Mg Mo Cu CloZn
 ACTIVITY 1- MINUS ONE ELEMENT
TECHNIQUE
• It offers a reliable, low cost, and easy
alternative technique for diagnosing nutrient
limitation
• Proper diagnosis of soil limiting nutrients will
increase Fertilizer Use Efficiency
• This technique will benefits farmers and
technicians those in the remote areas who
barely have access to soil laboratories.