Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Soil conditioners may be used to improve water retention in dry, coarse soils which are not holding water well. The addition of organic material for instance can greatly improve the water retention abilities of sandy soils and they can be added to adjust the pH of the soil to meet the needs of specific plants or to make highly acidic or ...
Researchers will grow a C 4 plant on soil that was previously occupied by a C 3 plant or vice versa. By taking soil respiration measurements and analyzing the isotopic ratios of the CO 2 it can be determined whether the soil respiration is mostly old versus recently formed carbon. For example, maize, a C 4 plant, was grown on soil where spring ...
Plant flowers exude energy-rich nectar above ground and plant roots exude acids, sugars, and ectoenzymes into the rhizosphere, adjusting the pH and feeding the food web underground. [2] [3] [4] Plants are called autotrophs because they make their own energy; they are also called producers because they produce energy available for other ...
Microbial inoculants, also known as soil inoculants or bioinoculants, are agricultural amendments that use beneficial rhizosphericic or endophytic microbes to promote plant health. Many of the microbes involved form symbiotic relationships with the target crops where both parties benefit . While microbial inoculants are applied to improve plant ...
Soil temperatures are lower when decreasing in soil depth and it is necessary to continue the mulching process to control for pathogens. Soil solarization practices requires soil temperatures reach 35-60 degrees Celsius (95 to 140°F), which kills pathogens at the top 30 centimeters of soil. [6] Solarization does not sterilize the soil completely.
Nutrients in the soil are taken up by the plant through its roots, and in particular its root hairs.To be taken up by a plant, a nutrient element must be located near the root surface; however, the supply of nutrients in contact with the root is rapidly depleted within a distance of ca. 2 mm. [14] There are three basic mechanisms whereby nutrient ions dissolved in the soil solution are brought ...
Air plants are epiphytes, meaning they anchor to a host plant by their roots. They do not need soil to grow, absorbing moisture and nutrients through little scale-like structures, called trichomes ...
Soil health depends on soil biodiversity (with a robust soil biota), and it can be improved via soil management, especially by care to keep protective living covers on the soil and by natural (carbon-containing) soil amendments. Inorganic fertilizers do not necessarily damage soil health if they are not used in excess, and if they bring about a ...