Project 3: Suitability of soils for growing crops

Introduction:

Soil reaction (pH) indicates whether a soil is acidic, neutral or alkaline. A pH range of 6.5 to 7.5 is ideal for availability of most of the nutrients to plant. High pH of soil is due to the saturation of sodium which is responsible for deterioration of physical condition of the soil. Electrical conductivity (EC) of the soils indicates total soluble salt content of the soil. If the salt content in soil is above the permissible limit, then plants find it difficult to absorb nutrient and water from soil, thus their growth is poor. Therefore, measure of pH and EC of the soil gives an indication about chemical environment of soil around plant root zone.

Objectives:
1. To provide an idea about the suitability of soil for crop production.
2. To suggest corrective measures to improve soil quality.

Methodology:
• Visit your area and locate different types of the soils
• Collect a representative soil samples from each area
• Put the identification number to all the soil samples
• After drying, grind and sieve the soil samples
• Take a beaker of 50 ml and put about 10 g of soil sample in it
• Add about 25 ml of distilled water and keep it for 30 mts with intermittent shaking using glass rod
• Measure the pH of soil by using pH meter
• Measure EC in the same suspension by EC meter
• Record the reading of pH and EC of all the soil samples and interpret the results.


Interpretation
note: table not inbcluded
Relevance:
The proposed project could be easily carried out by students using simple tool. It will give an understanding about why some soil found in their locality is productive and some are not. They will be able to understand about the problems of their soil and could broadly sensitize the farming community to adopt the corrective measures like addition of lime and gypsum. This will have an overall impact on increase in soil productivity and a message to farmers how to care about their soils.