Ch. 1 ,2 history and development of soil science, its scope and importance. soil as natural body, pedological and edapholgical concept of soil.

history and development of soil science and scope and importance of soil science

1. # History and development of soil science
# its scope and importance.
# Soil as natural body,
# Pedological and Edapholgical concept of
soil.

Mrs. Bhor S. D.
Asst. prof. of soil science and agricultural chemistry
College of agriculture, Babhulgaon.
Chapter 1

2. History and development
of soil science

3. 1. Jan Baptista van Helmont
• (born Jan. 12, 1580
, Brussels [Belg.]
•died Dec. 30, 1644,
Netherlands [Belg.]),
• Chemist who recognized
the existence of discrete
gases and
identified carbon dioxide.
•The Willow tree
experiment

4. •The Willow tree experiment
•Helmont's experiment on a willow tree has been
considered among the earliest quantitative studies on
plant nutrition and growth and as a milestone in the
history of biology. The experiment was only published
posthumously in Ortus Medicinae (1648) . Helmont
grew a willow tree and measured the amount of soil,
the weight of the tree and the water he added. After
five years the plant had gained about 164 lbs (74 kg).
Since the amount of soil was nearly the same as it had
been when he started his experiment (it lost only 57
grams), he deduced that the tree's weight gain had
come entirely from water

5. 2. Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure

6. •born Oct. 14, 1767, Geneva, Switz
•died April 18, 1845, Geneva),
•Swiss chemist and plant physiologist whose
quantitative experiments on the influence of
water, air, and nutrients on plants laid the
foundation for plant biochemistry.

7. 3. John Woodward (1665–1728)
•Demonstrated that spearmint plant grew
better in water containing soil that rainwater
alone or river water and concluded that the “
fine earth’ was the principal of growth.

8. 4. Jean
Baptista
Boussingault
(1802-1882)

9. • French agricultural chemist who helped
identify the basic scheme of the
biological nitrogen cycle when he
demonstrated that plants do not absorb the
element from air but from the soil in the form
of nitrates.

10. •Boussingault re-introduced the quantitative methods
first employed by de Saussure and is credited with the
following discoveries related to agriculture:
1.the first analysis of crops grown in a rotation
2.the increase in soil nitrogen following the growth of
legume crops
3.the theory (later confirmed by Persoz) that the
carbohydrate fraction of a food ration is metabolized
to fat in herbivores
4.plant growth is proportional to the amount of
available assimilatory nitrogen, which in practical
terms allows greater plant growth from the
simultaneous application of phosphorus and nitrogen
5.definition of the photosynthetic quotient.

11. Carl
Sprengel
(1828)

12. Carl Sprengel (1828) :
•was a German botanist who was the first to
formulate the "theory of minimum" in
agricultural chemistry, meaning that plant
growth is limited by the essential nutrient at
the lowest concentration. This rule, often
incorrectly attributed to Justus von Liebig as
Liebig's law of the minimum, but he only
popularized later as a scientific concept by
Liebig.

13. 5. Justus
Van Liebig
(1803-
1873)

14. •German chemist who made significant
contributions to the analysis of
organic compounds, the organization of
laboratory-based chemistry education, and
the application of chemistry
to biology (biochemistry) and agriculture.

15. Laid the foundation for the modern fertilizer
industry.
(a)Stressed the value of mineral elements from the
soil
(b)Found that carbon in plants comes from CO2 of
the atmosphere not from humus in the soil as
was thought at the time
(c)Hydrogen and oxygen come from water
(d)The alkaline metals (Ca, Mg and K) were needed
to neutralize acids formed by plants
(e)Phosphates are necessary for seed formation

16. •He manufactured fertilizer
but made the mistake of
fusing P and K with lime
(unavailable to plants)
•Liebig's Law of the
Minimum - If one of the
essential nutrients is
deficient, growth will be
poor even if all other
elements are abundant.
Liebig's Barrel. Barrel 2

17. John B. Lawes (1837) of the
Rothamsted Experiment station,
•England was first to make and use Super
phosphate on his farm (1840). Both J.B.Lawes
& J.H. Gilbert (1852) applied the principles of
Liebig and stated that addition of mineral
fertilizers to cropped soils would keep the soil
fertile. They further elaborated the chemistry
of plant nutrition.

18. K. D. Glinka (1914)
• a Russian soil scientist published the work of
V.V. Dokuchaiev and his team in German. Then
after the concept of Soil and its classification
based on zonality was grasped by C.F. Marbut
(1927) of the United State Department of
Agriculture. Marbut and his associates
classified the USA soils based mostly on the
Russian concept. He translated the book " The
great soil groups of the world" of Glinka from
German to English.

19. Dr. J.W. Leather (1906)
•Father of indian agricullture
•Imperial Agricultural of Imperial Institute of
Agricultural Research, He devised an indigenous
mode of characterizing the soils of India into four
major groups, viz. Alluvial, black, red and Jaterite.
He also worked on Usar (sodic soils). His name is
closely associated with a classical contribution in
the establishment of permanent manurial
experiments.

20. Madam Scholasky
• had prepared the first time a soil map of
India, which she showed in 1932 in England. A
diagram depicting the physio-graphical and
geological features and describing the
country's Soil's geological foundations was
published in 1935 by DNDN Wadia, J.N.
Mukharjee, and

21. M.S. Krishnan
• under the aegis of the Geological Survey of
India. Further, India's soil map based on soil
characteristics was prepared early in 1943 by
B. Viswanath and A.C. Ukil at the Imperial
(Indian) Agricultural Research Institute, New
Delhi.

22. Ramamoorthy (1967) and his
associates
• developed a concept of "targeted yield."

23. Scope and
Importance

24. •Soil science has six well-defined and developed
disciplines. The scope of soil science is reflected
through this discipline.
•Soil science: The science addressing Soil as
a resource on the surface of the planet, including,
Pedology (soil genesis, classification, and
mapping) and therefore the physical, chemical,
biological, and fertility properties of soils and
these properties about their managements for
crop production. Soil science has the
subsequent six well-defined disciplines :

25. Soil Physics
Soil Fertility
Soil Microbiology
Soil Chemistry
Soil conservation
Soil science
Pedology

26. 1. Soil fertility
•It denotes the status of Soil concerning the amount and
availability of elements to plant necessary for its growth.
Soil fertility, therefore, refers to the nutrient supplying
properties of the Soil; it is best understood by considering
(i) the nutrient requirement of plants: Gi) the supply of
nutrients by the Soil, (iii) ways in which nutrients are lost
from the soil and (iv) methods by which soil fertility may be
maintained or restored. Meanwhile, soil productivity is the
capacity of a soil, in its natural environment, to produce
crops under a specified management system and expressed
in terms of yield. In the definition, specifications are
necessary since no soil can grow all crops with equal
success, nor can a single management system has the same
effect on all grounds.

27. 2. Soil chemistry
•It is a division of soil science concerned with
the chemical constituents, the chemical
properties, and the chemical reactions of Soil.
It is the study of the chemical composition of
Soil about crop needs.

28. 3. Soil physics
•Soil physics is a division of soil science that
involves studying the physical properties of
Soil. Soil is a complex system and is made un
of colid liquid and gaseous materials. The
chemical and biological relationships among
solid, liquid, and gaseous phases are affected
by their respective properties and by
temperature, pressure, and light.

29. 4. Soil microbiology
•Soil microbiology is the science, which deals with
the microscopic population of the Soil, its role in
various transformations, and its importance in
plant nutrition and crop production. Soil
microbiology is concerned with the enumeration
and classification of soil-inhabiting
microorganisms and measurements of their
activities in the Soil. These activities are like the
decomposition of organic substances present in
the Soil or that find their way into the Soil, with
the production of ammonia, nitrates, fixation of
nitrogen, and numerous such transformations.

30. 5. Soil conservation
•it's a division of soil science coping with the
protection of Soil against physical loss by erosion
or against chemical deterioration; that's,
excessive loss of nutrients by either natural or
artificial means. It deals with a mix of all
management and land-use methods, which
conserve the Soil against degradation or
deterioration by biological or human-induced
factors. It's the management of the Soil to
supply high yields and, at the same time,
protecting it from degradation.

31. 6. Pedology
•The science coping with the genesis, survey,
and classification, and therefore the laws of
the soils' geographic distribution as a body in
nature.

32. Soil as natural body

33. Soil as a natural body
•The interest in soil as a natural body originated from its
ability to produce and sustain crops.
• The upper layers of the soil were apparently subject to
processes due to weathering and to processes due to
vegetation.
•Soils are the surface mineral and organic formations,
always more or less coloured by the humus.
•Soil formed due to combined activity of the following
agencies: Living and dead Organisms (Plants and
animals), Parent material, Climate and relief.

34. Soil as a three dimensional body
•Soil is a three dimensional body having length,
breadth and depth. They form a continuation
over the land surface and differ in properties
from place to place. Its upper boundary is air
or water and lower boundary is the rock
lithosphere.

35. SOIL
•The word “Soil” is derived from Latin word
‘Solum’ means ‘Floor’ or ‘Ground’

•‘SOIL- Soul of Infinite Life’

36. Definition of Soil
•“Soil is a natural occurring body that has been
evolved owing to combined influence of
climate and other organisms, acting on parent
material, as conditioned by relief over a
period of time” –Jenny (1941)
• “Soil is the unconsolidated mineral matter on
the immediate surface of the earth that serves
as a natural medium for the growth of land
plants”

37. Branches of Soil Science
•Pedology
•Edaphology
•Soil Fertility
•Soil Chemistry
•Soil Physics
•Soil Microbiology
•Soil Conservation
•Soil Genesis
•Soil Survey

38. Pedological and
Edapholgical concept of
soil.

39. • Pedological Approach:
•The origin of the soil, its classification and its
description are examined in Pedology.
•From Greek word pedon, means soil or earth.
•Pedology is the study of soil as a natural body
and does not focus on the soil’s immediate
practical use.
•A pedologist studies, examines and classifies
soil as they occur in their natural environment

40. Edaphological Approach:
•Edophology (from Greek word edaphos, means
soil or ground)
• It’s the study of soil from the stand point of
higher plants.
•Edaphologists consider the various properties of
soil in relation to plant production.
•They are practical and have the production of
food and fibre as their ultimate goal.
•They must determine the reasons for variation in
the productivity of soils and find means for
improvement.

41. •Soil Conservation: Deals with the protection of
soil against physical loss by erosion and against
chemical deterioration.
• Soil Genesis: The study of the mode of origin of
soils, with special reference to the processes
responsible for the development of Solum or true
soil from the unconsolidated parent material.
• Soil Survey:- The systematic examination,
description, classification and mapping of soils in
an area

42. SOIL COMPONENTS
•Components of Soil ( volume basis)
• Mineral matter – 45%
•Organic matter – 5%
•Soil water – 25%
•Soil air – 25%

43. Average composition of Earth crust (%
by weight)
Most Abundant Elements of
Earth's Crust
Approximate % by
weight
Oxide Approximate % oxide by weight
O 46.6
Si 27.7 SiO
2 60.6
Al 8.1 Al
2O
3 15.9
Fe 5.0
Fe as Fe
O
6.7
Ca 3.7 CaO 6.4
Na 2.7 Na
2O 3.1
K 2.6 K
2O 1.8
Mg 1.5 MgO 4.7
Ti 0.44 TiO
2 0.7
P 0.10 P
2O
5 0.1

45. Composition of the earth’s crust
•The Earth’s crust is principally compassed of
mineral matter.
• Each element is in combination with one or more
other elements to form definite chemical
compounds known as minerals.
• Many of these minerals in turn combine together
to form aggregates, which we know as rocks.
•Almost all the mineral mater is present in the
form of rocks in the earth’s crust.

46. •The elements are geochemically distributed into
five main groups based on their bonding
characters.
•Lithophile elements- which ionize readily or form
stable oxyanions.
• Chalcophile element –which tend to form
covalent bonds with sulphide.
•Siderophile elements – which readily form
metallic bonds
•Atmosphile elements- which tend to remain in
atmospheric gases.
• Biophile elements- which tend to be associated
with living organisms.