Irish Joy M.

Bequilla BS-ABM SSC001-BC2

Analysis

1. Why soil is important?

-Soil is fundamental for a healthy food production because it provides essential
nutrients, water, oxygen, and support to the roots. Also soil is the basis of food
systems as well as the place where all plants for food production grow.
2. Why is that it is recommended to get first a soil sample to agricultural farms before it is
used for production?
-Soil testing is recommended for some reasons: to optimize crop production, to
protect the environment from contamination by runoff and leaching of excess
fertilizers, to use in the diagnosis of plant culture problems, or simply to save money
and conserve energy by applying only the amount of fertilizer needed.
3. What is soil?
-It is the loose surface material that covers most land. It consists of inorganic particles
and organic matter, provides the structural support to plants used in agriculture.
4. Why do plants grow in soil?
- Plants need soil because the soil itself is fundamental for a healthy food, it has
nutrients that help plants survive, such as nitrogen and potassium that can only be
found from soil.
5. What is a healthy soil?
- A healthy soil is vital to ensure both high yields and future high yields, as well as
environmental protection. Soil health can be defined as a soil's ability to function and
sustain plants, animals and humans as part of the ecosystem.
6. Make a sketch of the area from where you took your soil samples and indicate the
sampling points.

Figure 1. Sketch of area for collecting soil samples.

7. What is the information needed in the label of the soil samples and analysis? Addition
information is much appreciated.
- The information needed in the label of the soil samples or soil analysis must include
the following: Name of the business, where the sample was collected from, date of
collection and name of the sampler.
8. Give at least 3 characteristics of a representative soil sample.
- The following are some of the characteristics of a representative soil sample: (a)
sampling tools;
(b) sampling strategy or parts of fields to sample; and
(c) the appropriate handling of samples
9. Enumerate at least 5 precautions in the collection and preparation of soil samples. -The
precautions in collecting and preparing of soil samples are:
(a) use clean equipment to avoid contamination;
(b) avoid collecting samples from areas where fertilizers have been applied;

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 (c) different texture samples must not be mixed;
(d) unwanted residues must be removed when collecting samples;
(e) dark and light colored soil must not be mixed;

References
Website
https://ag.umass.edu/greenhouse-floriculture/greenhouse-best-management-practices-bmp-
manual/soil-testing
https://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/epw11920/$file/3-3.pdf
https://www.agricology.co.uk/field/blog/what-healthy-soil
https://www.worldfuturecouncil.org/why-is-soil-so-important/