Fertilizer requirements of unproductive soils

Abstract

Introduction: Soils are unproductive for many reasons, among which are lack of moisture, absence of bacteria, excess of soluable salts, and some of the essential elements to plant growth. It is of this last requisite that we treat in this paper. Among the necessary chemical elements for plant growth, those that are most liable to be deficient in available form are: N. P. and K. Some soils are lacking in lime as is shown by their acidity. Since we are unable to tell the elements that are deficient in an unproductive soil by chemical analysis, we have to determine them by experimental work. A new method for determining the unproductiveness of soils is by the wire basket method. This is the method that we have used in conducting this experiment. This method is quicker than field tests and promises to be practical. The soil used in this experiment was taken from one of the poorer fields on the College Farm. It was put in good condition, different fertilizers added, placed in wire baskets, and five grains of wheat planted in each basket. After running the experiment for about four weeks the fertilizer requirement was determined by the growth of the wheat and the amount of moisture used. The baskets used were about three inches deep and three inches in diameter. They were filled with soil and then covered with paroffin. After the wheat was up the tops were sealed with paroffin and paper so as to prevent evaporizion.