PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF

SOIL
SOIL TEXTURE
Soil textural fraction or soil separates and their functions

The inorganic particles of the soil range from large

sand to very fine clay particles.

For practical purposes, the soil particles are

grouped into three soil separates namely:
 sand
 silt and
 clay
• each of which includes particles belonging to a certain
range in sizes. Each separate is clearly part of a total so
that they are often referred to as fractions, such as sand
fractions, silt fractions or clay fraction.
Sand particles tend to provide large spaces between
them facilitating movements of fluids (air and water).

They possess relatively small surface area per unit

quantity of the material and therefore play only a small
part in the chemical and physical processes of a soil
compared with of the clay and fine silt fractions.

From a practical viewpoint, coarse sized particles tend to

be subject to excessive leaching, susceptible to erosion
and become droughty in the field.
Silt separates are known to yield certain quantities of
nutrients to the soil solution and can hold the water that
is readily utilized by the plants.

On the other hand, because of very small particle sizes,

clay separates tend to provide small spaces between
them impeding movement of fluids, thus, clay develop
soils except those that develop aggregation are usually
poorly aerated and waterlogged.

However, clay separates have been considered as the

most active influencing properties and behavior of the soil
in as much as they expose large total surface area.
 There are a number of systems that classify soil separates into
different size range. Two of these are used more widely in
agriculture and they are the USDA (United States Department
of Agriculture) and the ISSS (International Soil Science Society).
The size ranges of particles are given in the table.

DIAMETER LIMITS (mm)

SOIL SEPARATE
USDA ISSS
Sand 2.0-0.05 2.0-0.02
Very coarse 2.0-1.0
Coarse sand 1.0-0.5 2.0-0.20
Medium sand 0.5-0.25
Fine sand 0.25-0.10 0.20-0.02
Very fine sand 0.10-0.05
Silt 0.05-0.002 0.02-0.002
Clay ≤ 0.002 ≤ 0.002
Soil Textural Relations – soil texture generally affects an
array of physical, chemical and biological properties and
processes in soils. Several effects are mostly indirect,
that is, texture influence property that directly affects
plant growth

 Coarse-textured soils have low nutrient supplying power

whereas, fine-textured soils have high nutrient supplying
power due to greater exposed surface of fine particles.

 Coarse-grained soils are easily tilled while fine-grained

soils are generally difficult to till.
 Infiltration and percolation rates are rapid in coarse-
grained soils where large pores predominate, and slow to
very slow in fine-textured soils where very small pores
predominate.

 Under saturated conditions, coarse-textured soils have

higher capacity to conduct water flow, or higher
conductivity than fine-textured soils. As moisture content
is reduced from saturation, fine-textured soils would have
higher conductivity.

 Coarse-grained soils are well-aerated and well-drained

while heavy fine-textured soils are poorly drained and
poorly aerated.
 Particle Size Distribution
 the term soil texture is used to classify particular
distribution and refers to the relative proportion of the
three soil separates namely: sand, silt and clay in a
given soil.

The term also relates to the coarseness or fineness of

the essential or dominant component of the sample.
The soil texture is the basic physical property of the soil
that remains unchanged by cultural and management
practices.
 Determination of soil texture

Feel Method – this involves rubbing a sample of the soil,

usually in a moist to wet conditions between the thumb
and the fingers.
The way a wet soil “slick out” – that is develops a
continuous ribbon when pressed between the thumb
and fingers-indicates the amount of clay present.
The longer and smoother the ribbon formed, the higher
the clay content. Sand feels gritty and can be heard
grinding together if held close to ones ear. Silt feels like
flour or talcum powder when dry and is slightly plastic
and sticky when wet. Persistent cloddiness of dry soil is
a characteristic of silt and clay.
Roll Method – this involves moistening a small amount of
soil, kneading it and shaping it into a ball.
 The ball will be rolled between the palm and made into a
ring.
 If no roll forms, it is a course-textured soil, sand. If a short
roll form, it is a moderately coarse-textured soil, sandy
loam.
 If the rolls forms but breaks when shaped into a ring it is a
moderately coarse-textured sod with more fine particles,
such as loam and silt loam.
 If the ring cracks along the outer edge, it is a moderately
fine-textured soil such as clay loam, sandy clay loam or
silty clay loam. If the ring is smooth, it is a fine textured
soil, such as silty clay, sandy clay or clay
Mechanical analysis or particles size
distribution analysis – this is the determination of
the amount of each soil separate (% sand, % silt, and %
clay) in a given soil mass.
Particle Size Distribution analysis may be accomplished by:

 Sieve method – sieves is used to mechanically

separate out very fine sand and larger particles from the
finer particles. The principle is simply that discrete soil
particles remaining on given sieve belong to the separate
whose sizes in between the size of the openings of that
sieve and the one above it. The weight of each separate
is then measured. Difficulty arises in using screens to
separate progressively smaller particles of silt and clay.
Sedimentation – Sedimentation principle adopt a
medium wherein particles can settle in the suspension.
Under isothermal conditions, the rate of such settlement
depends upon the size, density and shape of particles.
 In a water medium for instance, larger particles travel
faster than smaller ones of the same density and settle
out of suspension.
 The law that governs the settlement of rigid spherical
particles, separation in suspension is Stokes Law
where terminal velocity (V) of particle is related to the
particle diameter (d) in the following: V = K d2
Where: V = velocity (cm/min.)
d = effective diameter (mm)
K = constant (cm/mm2-min)

And since S = V t where: S = distance; t = time

Then,
S
t = ____
V

S
= _____
K d2
K is a constant characteristic of the particle, the liquid
and temperature of the suspension. The techniques of
determining particle size distribution based on
sedimentation principle are:

 pipette method – uses volumetric pipette to obtain

samples of the soil suspension from fixed depth at
various times of sedimentations.
 Hydrometer – this method makes use of a calibrated
hydrometer to determine the amount of suspended
particles or density of the sod suspension at different
times.
 Textural Groupings of Soils
Sand – the sand group includes the soils whose
sand content by weight is 70% or more. The two
specific classes are sand (S) and loamy sand M.
These are often referred to as coarse-textured soils.
Clays – the clay group includes all soils that contain
40% or more clays Textural classes under this group are
 Sandy Clay (SC),
 silty clay (SiC), and
 clay (C).

• Sandy clay contains more sand than clay and silty clay
contains more silt than clay. These are called fine-textured
soils.
• They are difficult to till due to their plasticity and stickiness.
• Plasticity refers to the ability of moist soil to be molded into
various shapes when subjected to mechanical manipulation
and its ability to retain that shape after manipulation.
Stickiness refers to, the adherence of moist soils on solid
surface.
Loam – loam is a mixture of sand, silt and clay particles
that is neither as easy to till as the sand group nor difficult
to till as the clay group.

A soil that is easy to fill is called a light soil while a soil

difficult to till is called a heavy soil.
Loams exhibit light and heavy properties in about equal
proportion.
Loam is subdivided according to the dominant soil
separate present. This include sandy loam (SL), silt
loam (SiL), clay loam (CL), Sandy clay loam (SCL),
and silty clay loam (SiCL). Their texture range from
moderately coarse to moderately fine.
 Importance of soil texture to plants
Coarse-textured soil have low nutrient supplying
power and water holding capacity whereas fine textured
soils have high nutrient supplying power and water
holding capacity due to greater exposed surface of the
fine particles. Coarse-textured soils are easily filled
while fine-textured soils are generally difficult to till.

Infiltration and percolation rates are rapid in coarse-

grained textured soils whereas large pores
predominates, and slow to very slow in fine-textured
soils where very small pores predominate.
Under saturated condition, coarse-textured soils. As
moisture content is reduced from saturation, fine-
textured soils would have higher conductivity.

Coarse textured soils are well drained and well-aerated

while heavy, fine textured soils arc poorly drained and
poorly aerated.