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Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality. [3] It also refers to the soil's ability to supply plant/crop nutrients in the right quantities and qualities over a sustained period of time.
Animal-free farming may use organic or non-organic farming methods. However, most detailed discussions of animal-free agriculture currently focus on animal-free organic variants. [4] In the European Union, farmers have a financial incentive to use manure instead of animal-free fertilisers, since manure is subsidised.
Natural topsoil is mined and conditioned for human use and makes up the bulk of commercial topsoil available. The current rate of use and erosion outpaces soil generation. [4] It is possible to create artificial topsoil which supports some of the engineering or biological uses of topsoil. [4]
Controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) -- which includes indoor agriculture (IA) and vertical farming— consists of crop production systems in greenhouses or other structures that use horticulture and engineering techniques beyond conventional soil-based outdoor production.
Soil is used in agriculture, where it serves as the anchor and primary nutrient base for plants. The types of soil and available moisture determine the species of plants that can be cultivated. Agricultural soil science was the primeval domain of soil knowledge, long time before the advent of pedology in the 19th century.
Plasticulture is the use of plastic mulch in agriculture. Farmers use plastic sheets as mulch to cover 50-70% of the soil and allow them to use drip irrigation systems to have better control over soil nutrients and moisture. Rain is not required in this system, and farms that use plasticulture are built to encourage the fastest runoff of rain.
In agriculture cultural control is the practice of modifying the growing environment to reduce the prevalence of unwanted pests.Examples include changing soil pH or fertility levels, irrigation practices, amount of sunlight, temperature, or the use of beneficial animals (e.g. chickens) or insects (e.g. ladybugs) (biological control).
Hydrogel agriculture technology uses insoluble gel-forming polymers to improve the water-holding properties of different soils, such as clays and sandy loams. This can increase water-holding and water use (up to 85% for sand), improve soil permeability, reduce the need for irrigation, reduce compaction, soil erosion , and leaching, and improve ...