Question

Explain 8 ways in which soil loses fertility.

Answer 1

1. Leaching – As more waters moves down the soil horizons it carries along soil nutrients allow the soil profile beyond the reach of the plant roots
2. Soil erosion – Detaching and carrying away of top fertile soil leads to loss of fertile soil
3. Burning of vegetation –This destroys organic matter, beneficial organ isms that breakdown organic matter to realize nutrients are also destroyed.
4. Change in soil ph – Due to prolonged use of acid or basic fertile ph determine the type of micro-organisms present and the availability of certain nutrients to crops.
5. Monocropping- The practice of growing one type of crop in the same place of land for a long time. There is depletion of certain nutrients and from a certain zone in the soil
6. Contour cropping- Crops absorb large amount of nutrients which get lost if they are never replenished back to the soil
7. Accumulation of salts – Under irrigation in semi- arid areas, there is a high evaporation rate leading to accumulation of salts .This causes Salinization and destruct ion soil structure if leads to loss of soil fertility
8. Development of hard pans- These prevents water infiltration into the soil proper development of crop roots.
9. Fixation of nutrients into insoluble farms – Some nutrients become fixed hence are not readily available to crops