BSc Final Year

Semester V

COURSE TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY &

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Course Code: MIC 506A

Topic: Physical & chemical properties of soil
Lecture number: 2

Presented by Ms Naveena K,
Department of Microbiology,
St Anns College for Women, Hyderabad
 Learning objectives:
1)Describe the physical and chemical properties of soil.

 Learning outcome:
1) List basic soil properties and understand the relationships
between properties.
 Physical properties determines the availability of
oxygen in soil, mobility of water into or through soils,
moisture retention, and the ease of root penetration.
 The major soil physical properties are;
1. Soil texture
2. Soil structure
3. Soil density
4. Soil porosity & permeability
5. Soil colour
6. Soil pH
7. Soil plasticity
8. Soil organic matter
9. Soil air
10. Soil water
11. Soil temperature
 Texture denotes the size of individual particles.
 The particles that make up soil are categorized into
three groups by size – sand, silt, and clay.
 Sand particles are the largest and clay particles the
smallest. Most soils are a combination of the three.
 The relative percentages of sand, silt, and clay gives
soil its texture.
 Texture influences – Porosity, Plant available water
holding capacity, adsorption of nutrients, plasticity.
 Textural names are given to the soil based on relative
proportions of each of the three soil separates – sand, silt
& clay.
 Soils that are preponderantly clay are called clay, those
with high silt content are silt, and those with high sand
percent – sand.
 A sand that does not exhibit the dominant physical
properties of any of these three groups is called loam.
 A triangle is used to determine the soil textural name
after the % of sand, silt and clay – soil textural
triangle.
 12 textures are classified based on sand, silt & clay %
• Soil structure is the arrangement of soil particles into
small clumps, called peds or aggregates. Soil particles
(sand, silt, clay and even organic matter) bind together
to form peds.
• Depending on the composition and on the conditions
in which the peds formed (getting wet and drying out,
or freezing and thawing, farming, etc.), the ped has a
specific shape.
• Importance – Increase infiltration of water, large
continuous pores increase permeability, improves root
growth and rooting depth.
 Density is the weight per unit volume of a
substance.
 Soil weight is most often expressed on a soil
volume basis rather than on a particle basis.
 Expressed in gram per cubic centimeter.
 2 density measurements.
 Particle density
 Bulk density
 Bulk density is defined as the dry weight of soil
per unit volume of soil.
 Bulk density considers both the solids and the pore
space; whereas, particle density considers only the
mineral solids.
 Particle density – Weight per unit volume of solid
portion of soil.
 It is the true density.
 Porosity – Spaces occupied by air and water.
 Porosity is how much water a substance can hold. Porosity
is usually stated as a percentage of the material’s total
volume.
 The volume percentage of total pore space in a soil is
known as soil porosity.
 Pores are the result of irregular shapes of primary particles
and their aggregation.
 Permeability – is how well water flows through rock or
other earth substance. Factors that affect permeability are
how large the pores in the substance are and how well the
particles fit together.
 The pore space is usually occupied by air and water.
 The air filled pores constitute the gaseous phase of the
soil system. Oxygen is essential for all biological
reactions occurring in soil.
 Oxygen, carbon-dioxide, nitrogen.
 Composition of soil air is more or less similar to that of
the atmospheric air except the content of carbon dioxide
which is several times higher.
 Continuous exchange of gases between atmosphere and
soil air.
 The circulation of air in the soil mass is known as ‘soil
aeration’.
 Sources of soil heat are solar radiations and heat
generated in the decomposition of dead organic matters.
 Temperature of soil depends upon the temperature of
atmospheric air and on moisture content.
 It is controlled by climate, colour of soil, slope, and
altitude of the land and also by vegetational cover of the
soil.
 Exhibit wide range of color – gray, black, white, red, yellow .
 Inherited from the parental material or sometimes it may be
due to soil forming processes.
 Variations in soil colour are due to organic substances, iron
compounds, silica, lime and other inorganic compounds.
 Organic substances impart black or dark greyish-black
colour to the soil.
 Iron compounds - brown, red and yellow colours of soils.
 Iron oxides in combination with organic substances impart
brown colour which is most common soil colour.
 Silica, lime - light white and grey tinges to the soil.
 Plays very important role in the plant growth.
 Soil water maintains the soil texture, arrangement and
compactness of soil particles.
 It is good solvent for minerals and it makes the
concentration of nutrients low so that nutrients may be
absorbed by plants easily.
 Water in the soil comes mainly through infiltration of
precipitated water (rain, sleet, snow and hail) and
irrigation whereas it is lost from the soil chiefly through
evaporation, percolation stream flow and transpiration.
 Water is held in the soil in the following forms:
 (i) Gravitation water,
 (ii) Capillary water,
 (iii) Hygroscopic water,
 (iv) Water vapour,
 (v) Combined water.
 Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of the
soil.
 Most soils have pH values between 3.5 and 10.
 Soils can be classified according to their pH value:
6.5 to 7.5 - neutral
over 7.5 - alkaline
less than 6.5 - acidic,
less than 5.5 - strongly acidic.
• mineral nutrients are readily available to plants when
soil pH is near neutral.
 A property that enables the moist soil to change shape
when some force is applied over it and to retain this
shape even after the removal of the force from it.
 Plasticity of soil depends on the cohesion and
adhesion of soil materials
 The surface layers contains mass of plant and animal
remains.
 The organic matter is converted into unidentifiable
amorphous material called humus.
 Humus increases soil fertility.
 Plays major role in texture and structure of soil.
 Increases water holding capacity and buffering capacity.
 It makes soil porous, increases aeration, percolation and
makes soil suitable for plant growth.
Categories of organic matter in soil
 (1) Inorganic matters of soil
 (2) Organic matters in soil
 (3) Colloidal properties of soil particles
 (4) Soil reactions and Buffering action
 Inorganic constituents- Aluminium, silicon, calcium,
magnesium, iron, potassium and sodium.
 Small quantities of several other inorganic compounds,
such as those of boron, magnesium, copper, zinc,
molybdenum, cobalt, iodine, fluorine etc.
 Amounts vary in soils of different places.
 Chemical composition of soil of one horizon differs
greatly from other horizon.
 2) Organic matter
 Consists of substances of organic origin; living and dead .
 source of N, P, S for plant growth.
 Microbial decomposition of organic matter provides
organic substances.
 When the plants and animals die, their dead remains are
subjected to decomposition.
 As a result of decomposition a number of different organic
products or compounds are formed from the original
residues.
 In the course of decomposition, the original materials are
converted into dark coloured organic complexes, called
humus.
3. Colloidal Properties of Soil Particles:
 Coined by Grahm, derived from Greek words
kola=glue and eoids = appearance, i.e., glue like in
appearance.
 Less than 0.001mm in size.
 Have large surface area
 Adsorptive capacity.
 Charged - either positive or negative (predominate)
 There are two types of colloids in the soil.
1)Inorganic or mineral/clay colloids
2)Organic or humus colloids
1)Inorganic or mineral/clay colloids:

•The clay particles are formed mainly of silica, alumina, iron

and combined water.
•The clay particles are negatively charged, hence they can
hold thousands of positively charged ions of mineral
nutrients on their surfaces.
•The clay colloids are lyophilic (water loving). So, they are
important from the standpoint of the adsorption of large
quantity of water
2)Organic or humus colloids:

These colloids show adsorptive capacity many times greater

than clay colloids.
Organic colloids are negatively charged like clay colloids.
Addition of organic colloids to the sandy soil increases
temporarily its moisture and nutrient retaining capacity.
4. Soil reactions

 Ion exchange involves the movement of cations (positively

charged elements like calcium, magnesium, and sodium)
and anions (negatively charged elements like chloride, and
compounds like nitrate) through the soils. In the United
States, cation exchange is much more common.

 Cation exchange is the interchanging between a cation in

the solution of water around the soil particle, and another
cation that is stuck to the clay surface. The number of
cations in the soil water solution is much smaller than the
number that is attached to soil particles.
 Anion exchange:
 Soils rich in organic colloids show anion exchange also.
In this process, negatively charged ions held by
colloids are replaced by OH–, H2PO4–, SO4—, and NO3–
ions.
 Among these anions, exchange of PO4—, ions is most
important.
 Soil colloids are important because their surfaces
attract soil nutrients dissolved in soil, water.
 Without soil colloids, most vital nutrients would be
leached out the soil by percolating water and carried
away in streams.
 Question bank:

 Describe in detail about the physical and chemical

properties of soil.
 Applied microbiology by BD Singh.
 Soil Microbiology by NS Subba Rao (Pages 11, 12).
 A text book of basic and applied microbiology by
Aneja.
 Soil Microbiology by R R Mishra.
 Soil Microbiology by Coyne.
 Introduction to Soil Microbiology by Alexander
Martin.