Soil testing - an important tool for assessing soil health and quality

Lungmuana , Lalnunsiama Colney

Science Vision 11 (4), 214-217 | Published on 31 December 2011 |

Abstract

Soil testing plays a very important role in diagnosing the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soils by providing the conditions of available nutrients which indicates the fertility and productivity of the soils. It also helps in assessing the capability and suitability of land for agriculture and allied activities and quantifies the soil constraints. Excessive use of fertilizers especially nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers leads to environmental pollution such as eutrophication and nitrate toxicity of ground water. Therefore, soil testing provides sound information for recommendation of fertilizers and correct amount of chemical fertilizers to be integrated with organic amendments for improving the soil health and quality in order to increase the productivity per unit area.

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