In many farming industries, soil problems are the main reason for the decline in yields. Farmers with little or no knowledge of fundamental soil problems have applied ineffective remedies to farmers, raising production costs and yielding no benefits in the short and long term.
This article introduces soil problems and simple and effective ways to fix them.
Soil Hardening
Soil hardening means that soil structure is destroyed, the tillage layer is hardened, and the air permeability is poor. It severely affects the healthy growth of crop roots.
Main Reasons
The input of organic fertilizer is seriously insufficient: the content of organic matter in the soil is low, and the structure is deteriorated, which affects the activity of microorganisms, thereby affecting the formation of soil aggregate structure and leading to soil hardening.
Long-term excessive application of chemical fertilizers: It destroyed the soil structure, and soil organic matter could not be replenished in time, causing soil hardening and cracking.
Agricultural measures such as repression, plowing, and watering have resulted in damage to the upper soil aggregate structure.
Major Harm
Root absorbing ability declines. In the case of soil hardening, lack of oxygen causes a decrease in root vigor, does not develop normally, and weakens the respiration, affecting the absorption of nutrients.
Lead to nutrients deficiency symptoms. As root capacity declines, the ability to absorb water and fertilizers weakens, together with poor soil nutrient availability, lead to nutrients deficiency symptoms.
Imbalance of Mineral Nutrition Ratio
Crop growth requires 17 kinds of essential nutrients. In daily management, only nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers are emphasized, and trace elements are neglected. As a result, trace elements in the soil are depleted, and NPK is enriched.
With more and more fertilizer inputs, the yield and quality of fruits and vegetables have not been improved, but have shown a downward trend.
Major Harm
Physiological nutrients deficiency symptoms. Such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and so on. Poor growth of crops and reduction of quality of agricultural products.
Low Organic Matter Content
Soil organic matter is an essential part of the soil structure and an important indicator of soil fertility.
Main Reason
At present, the number of crop replanting increases, excessive application of chemical fertilizers, and organic fertilizer application is seriously inadequate, or the use of methods is unreasonable.
Major Harm
The loss of soil organic matter is serious, the structure of the soil pellets is destroyed, the soil water conservation, fertilizer retention capacity, permeability and buffering performance are reduced, and the crop yield and economic benefits are seriously affected.
Thinner Plough Layer
Soil hardening means that the soil structure is destroyed, the tillage layer is hardened, and the air permeability is poor. Seriously affect the healthy growth of crop roots.
Major Harm
The formation of the “plough bottom” has hindered the circulation of soil moisture, nutrients, and air, hindered the extension of the roots of the crop, reduced the ability of the soil to store water and drought resistance ability.
Soil Acidification
Normally neutral soil pH is around 7 but soil pH in many areas is less than 5.
Main Reason
Precipitation or watering is large and concentrated. A large number of chemical fertilizers have been used for a long time. At present, most chemical fertilizers are acidic fertilizers.
Major Harm
After soil acidification, the number of harmful microorganisms in the soil will increase, and the number of beneficial microorganisms will drastically decrease, thereby increasing the incidence of root diseases.
After the destruction of the microbial environment in the soil, the granule structure of the soil is correspondingly destroyed.
Soil nutrients generally have the highest absorption rate in neutral or acidic soils. When the pH is significantly increased or decreased, the absorption rate of soil nutrients will decrease.
Root-knot nematodes prefer acid soil conditions. When the soil becomes acid, the number of root-knot nematodes will increase, causing root-knot nematode disease.
Soil Salinization
Cyan cream, red cream, hoarfrost, have you seen these phenomena? This is an intuitive manifestation of soil salinization.
Main Reason
Enclosed facility environment: Under cultivation, crops have a significant demand for water, which causes the deep salt content of the soil to migrate upward and accumulate to the surface as the water evaporates.
Unreasonable fertilization: The overuse of large chemical fertilizers and the application of unfermented manure are the main reasons.
Unreasonable farming practices: Thin plough layer, the formation of plough bottoms, and easy accumulation of salt in the tillage layer make it difficult to infiltrate, increasing the surface salt content of the soil year by year.
Major Harm
- Physiological poisoning of salt segregants.
- It causes crop physiological drought.
- It affects the absorption of nutrients by crops.
- A decline in soil function. When the salt content in the soil is too high, the activity of soil microorganisms is inhibited, and the soil function is affected.
Soil Pollution
The main types of soil pollution include heavy metal pollution and organic matter pollution.
Main Reason
Residues of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and agricultural plastics, organic fertilizers that have not been fermented and decomposed, and continuous cropping, disease, and disease-inducing-pathogens cause long-term residual in these soils, once exceeded the soil’s ability to purify, can cause soil contamination.
Major Harm
The ecological balance of the soil will be destroyed, the beneficial microorganisms will be killed in a large amount, the physical and chemical properties of the soil will deteriorate, the soil activity will decline, and the soil function will deteriorate.