The importance of ph in soils for agriculture

The importance of pH in soils for agriculture

There are three main reasons why its is important to have a certain control in the pH of the soil.
The first one is because vegetables in order tolive and have a proper growth they need certain minerals and nutrients which can be divided in two: macronutrients and micronutrients. The first ones are found in the plant in amounts of more than 0.05%and are : Nitrates , Phosphates and Potassium; the second type are those which are still necessary but are found in quantities less than 0.05% and the most important one is the Magnesium. All thisminerals are needed for the proper biological functions of the plants, but why should we pay attention to pH? Well , the answer is simple; most of the vegetables can only absorb the minerals that aredissolved in the soil, so a slight change in pH can affect the degree of solubility of such minerals,

The second reason is that not every single kind of vegetable can grow properly in all kinds ofsoil, some plants need a specific pH in the soil in order to survive and that is a factor we should take in account when growing anything. The pH in the most of the soils is around 4 and 8; in someforests the pH can oscillate between 2.8 and 3.9 which is quite acid but in salty soils the pH is higher than 8.5. The best range for pH in the soil is between 6.0 to 7.0 which is very neutral, this ismainly because most of the nutrients are available at this range.

The third reason is the famous and hated by farmers Acid Rain: this is as we all know a kind of pollution produce by Nitric andSulfuric acids created by human activities that not only affects the air around us or the water we drink, but most of all it affects the soil. But why should we concern about acid rain? Well, as its namesays, it is ACID, so when the substances that produce it get mixed with those in our soils it can change the soil’s chemical composition and reduces drastically its pH levels; which as I said...