Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
3.
Describe the characteristics of an A soil horizon and describe what characteristics
of an A horizon result in increased crop production.
4.
Explain why a person should not be able to determine the natural (nonfertilizer)
crop nutrients in soil by knowing the rock that underlies that soil. Explain why this
is not correct.
5.
Explain three reason why increasing the organic matter in soil should lead to an
increase in crop yield in any soil.
6.
List the basic crop nutrients found naturally in soil. Why might these be different
from the same nutrients found in the soil's parent material?
7.
Explain how soil is complex, giving the components it contains and how these
components are related to each other.
8.
Explain how soil erosion depletes soil of plant nutrients.
9.
Reproduce the chemical equations that show how organic matter decomposes in
soil and what the products of this decomposition are.
10.
In conserving soil, water is also conserved. Explain.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
N. C. Brady and R. R. Weil, The Nature and Properties of Soils, 12th ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper
Saddle River, NJ, 1999.
D. D. Frangmeier, W. J. Elliot, S. R. Workman, R. L. Huffman, and G. O. Schwab, Soil and Water
Conservation Engineering, Thomson Delmar, New York, 2005.
V. C. Jamison and E. M. Kroth, Available Moisture Storage Capacity in Relation to Textural
Composition and Organic Matter Content of Several Missouri Soils, Soil Sc. Soc. Am.
Proc., 22, 189 - 192, 1958.
A. E. Olness and D. W. Archer, Effect of Organic Carbon on Available Water in Soil, Soil Sci.,
170, 90 - 101, 2004.
E. M. Romney, A. Wallace, J. W. Cha, and J. D. Childress, Different Levels of Soil Organic
Matter in Desert Soil and Nitrogen Fertilizer on Yields and Mineral Composition of Barley
Grown in the Soil, Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 7, 51 - 55, 2001.
C. D. Tsadilas, I. K. Mitsios, and E. Golia, Influence of Biosolids Application on Some Soil
Physical Properties, Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal., 36, 709 - 716, 2005.
A. Wild, Russell's Soil Conditions and Plant Growth, Longman Scientific & Technical, Essex,
UK, 1988.
