Ads
related to: basic characteristics of clay soil in plants
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Clay cannot be resolved by optical microscopes as its particles are 0.002 mm (7.9 × 10 −5 in) or less in diameter and a thickness of only 10 angstroms (10 −10 m). [16] [17] In medium-textured soils, clay is often washed downward through the soil profile (a process called eluviation) and accumulates in the subsoil (a process called ...
Clay is generally considered undesirable for agriculture, although some amount of clay is a necessary component of good soil. Compared to other soils, clay soils are less suitable for crops due to their tendency to retain water, and require artificial drainage and tillage to make suitable for planting.
Soils supply plants with nutrients, most of which are held in place by particles of clay and organic matter [41] The nutrients may be adsorbed on clay mineral surfaces, bound within clay minerals , or bound within organic compounds as part of the living organisms or dead soil organic matter.
In soils, clay is a soil textural class and is defined in a physical sense as any mineral particle less than 2 μm (8 × 10 −5 in) in effective diameter. Many soil minerals, such as gypsum , carbonates, or quartz, are small enough to be classified as clay based on their physical size, but chemically they do not afford the same utility as do ...
Alkali, or alkaline, soils are clay soils with high pH (greater than 8.5), a poor soil structure and a low infiltration capacity. Often they have a hard calcareous layer at 0.5 to 1 metre depth. Alkali soils owe their unfavorable physico-chemical properties mainly to the dominating presence of sodium carbonate , which causes the soil to swell ...
The dominant material is the montmorillonite clay material which has a high swell and shrinks characteristics depending on the soil water content. In the dry season, evaporation moves water from the deep horizon toward the soil surface through capillary action. The water removal results in shrinkage of clay, and the soil becomes dry and hard.