Lecture 2

Classifications of Soil nutrients and Fundamentals of Soil

Nitrogen

1. Classifications of soil Nutrients

Only a few forms of nutrients are taken up by plants (Table 2.1). Concentrations of
these forms of nutrients are normally low in soils, but soils have the ability to store
nutrients in many organic and inorganic molecules. They are transformed to the soluble
plant – available forms at rates defined by the environmental conditions for the biotic and
abiotic reactions, amounts of the different non available forms, their rates of conversion,
and removal of various nutrient forms from soil solution. Thus, all of the plant nutrients
have ionic forms that are plant – available, and soils contain an assortment of less available
forms that became available to plants through chemical and biological reactions.

The nutrients supplied from soil have been classified in different ways: by their
functions in plants, by whether they generally need to be added to soils to optimize growth,
or by their mobility in the plant. For agricultural production, nutrients are classified by the
quantities of the nutrients needed by plants and whether they are normally present in
sufficient quantities in soils to optimize the growth of a crop.

1.1 Macronutrients

The elements nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are the nutrients that most
often limit crop growth, and they are called “macronutrients.” Since N, P, and K are the
nutrients most widely deficient in soils, they are also called the “major,” “primary,” or the
“fertilizer” nutrients.

Calcium, Mg, and S are called the “secondary” nutrients of the macronutrients
because they are not as widely deficient as N, P, and K
Macronutrients
Chemical Symbol Principal forms taken up by plants

Primary (Major)

Nitrogen N NH4 + and NO3

Phosphorus P HPO4 = and H2 PO4 -
Potassium Kb K+
Secondary (Minor)
Calcium Ca Ca++

Magnesium Mg++
Mg
Sulfur S HSO4 – and SO4 =
Macronutrients
(Trace Elements) 

Boron B H3BO3 ,H2 BO3 -

Copper C Cu++,Cu(OH)+
Chlorine Cl Cl-
Iron Fe Fe++,Fe (OH)2+,
Fe(OH)++,Fe+++
Manganese Mn Mn+2
Molybdenum Mo M0O4=, HM0O4-
Zinc Zn Zn++
Cobalt Co Co++
1.2 Micronutrients

Other elements that are needed by plants in much lower amounts than the macronutrients
are called micronutrients or trace elements. They are as essential to plant growth as the
macronutrients because they perform very essential and specific roles, particularly in
molecules involved with energy transfer process, hormones, and enzymes.

2. Fundamentals of N, P and K

Soil factors that affect the plant availability of the primary or fertilizer nutrients (N, P and
K) are quite complex, and different from one another. The available forms, mechanisms of
becoming plant available, forms of stored nutrients in soils, and timing of plant uptake are
different not only between the nutrients but also for individual fertilizer sources of each
nutrient. A basic understanding of the reaction of nutrients in soils and the factors that
affect the response of crops to fertilizers is essential for people in the fertilizer industry so
that they can make informed production and marketing decisions based on what can
increase the profit from using fertilizers.

2.1. Soil Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a component of amino acids, which make up proteins, chlorophyll (the

molecule that captures the sun’s energy), enzymes, and the genetic material, nucleic acids.
Therefore, this nutrient is needed in large amounts by all plants. Plants that do not have
adequate N are yellowish, have yellowing and browning older leaves, are stunted and have
poor root systems. Without additions of N, the nutrients are practically uniformly deficient
for all grasses and cultivated crops. The only exceptions are leguminous crops that have
symbiotic bacterial colonies growing within the plant, which have the ability to meet N
needs through fixation of atmospheric N2 Excess N can cause excessive vegetative growth,
delayed maturity, and stalk breakage in small grains. The other macronutrients do not have
direct detrimental effects when applied to excess.
The availability of N to plants is largely controlled by soil microbial processes. The N cycle
in soils is complex, and under certain conditions large amounts of plant available N can be
lost from the soil in drainage water or to the atmosphere. In this way, N is different from
the other nutrients, which are not as readily lost from soils. The rates of conversion between
forms of N and the direction (immobilization and mineralization) depend principally on the
growth conditions of the microorganisms, i.e., temperature, moisture, oxygen availability
and composition of organic substrates etc, rather than simply abiotic reactions.

Nitrogen uptake depends on the relatively small amount of available N forms in soil
solution the soil’s ability to replenish the available forms, and the growth conditions for the
plant. Of course, any condition that inhibits plant growth such as other nutrient deficiencies,
poor rooting conditions, poor weather, etc., will reduces N uptake.

Nitrate (NO3-) is the main form of N available to upland crops, whereas ammonium (NH4+)
is the main form taken up by plants growing under flooded conditions, notably rice. Nitrate
moves through soils with the soil water, since soils have little anion-absorbing capacity.
Therefore, NO3- can move with water to plant roots for uptake. Nitrate is also eligible for
leaching into groundwater. To reduce NO3- pollution, it is therefore important that the
amount of NO3- stored in the soil be minimized during periods in which water percolates
through the soil. Fertilizer N applications can be made more efficient by applying the N
before it is needed by the crop.

Nitrate-N is also subject to loss from the soil through microbial processes when soils
become highly anaerobic due to water saturation, which inhibits oxygen movement. When
soils become anaerobic, certain microbes use NO3- as a terminal election acceptor, and the
NO3- is converted to N2 and N2o, forms of N that cannot be used by plants. This loss of
plant available N, called denitrification, therefore precludes NO3- use in flooded rice
culture. When soils are flooded to grow rice, the NO3- accumulated from organic matter
transformations during the period of dry season fallow is lost through denitrification.
Upland soils, which become very wet for a week or more because of poor internal drainage
or weather conditions, can lose NO3- through denitrification, particularly if there is readily
degradable organic material in the soil. The organic material causes O2 to be consumed
more rapidly and provides growth substances for the denitrification organisms.

While the denitrification process is lamented by agronomists as a loss of plant available N

from the soil system, it is the only way that N is recycled back to the atmosphere as N2.
Without this process, lower soil layers and ground waters would become large reservoirs of
NO3- and the oxygen-enriched atmosphere would support continual conflagrations and
thus, make life difficult. Therefore, the N cycle is just as important as the carbon and the
hydrologic cycles to the life support system of the earth.

Ammonium N is a plant available from in addition to NO3-, but in normal upland soils it is
converted fairly rapidly to NO3- by a series of microbial reactions collectively called
nitrification. Most NH4+ fertilizers are converted to NO3- within a few weeks, but this
period can vary with soil temperature, moisture, O2 availability, soil pH, and the manner in
which NH4+ or NH3 was applied. Soils of less than 5.0 nitrify more slowly than more
neutral soils. Concentrated zones of NH4+ can also reduce the rate of its conversion to
NO3- As a cation, NH4+ can be absorbed onto cation exchange sites and is therefore
normally not subject to leaching as is NO3-. In addition, NH4+ can move into the interior of
clay lattice structures and be protected from nitrification or plant uptake; this is called
ammonium fixation.

N in organic forms is the major storehouse of N in soils and since the biological
conversions occur fairly rapidly, plants rely mainly on N derived from organic material to
meet their N needs. When NH4+ and NO3- are added to soils, the soil microorganisms make
the major decisions as to what happens to the N, that is, whether the N is put into the
organic N pool by their assimilation of the N or is converted to other forms of N either
usable or unusable by plants. when a carbonaceous material, for instance straw, is added to
soils, NO3- or NH4+ (termed mineral N) will be used by the microbes to utilize the carbon
energy source, and there will be bet immobilization or incorporation of the plant available
N into unavailable organic forms. This organic N can then be converted back to NH4+ and
then to NH3- after only a few weeks and becomes available to the crop. This organic pool
of N is therefore the most important aspect of N nutrition, and 70% - 80% of the N taken up
by crops is normally from this pool rather than directly from mineral fertilizer additions.
Synthesized fertilizer N sources not only increase the available mineral N status of soil but
also temporarily increase the amount of N in soil organic matter as well.