AGRONOMY CONCEPTS: COMPACTION AND SOIL PROTECTION

(Video: Healthy soil for healthy plants and environment: Agronomy feeds the world)
Today, I will talk about how to keep soil healthy for plants and the environment.
Just like you and me, plant roots need to have air, water, and nutrients to support a normal life.
We think of soil as being solid, but it can be compacted under foot or vehicle traffic.
Plant roots grow poorly when soils are compacted.
Air, water, and nutrients can be difficult to get when the open pore spaces roots would grow into
are closed.
The best way to protect against compaction is prevention.
In a garden, making a dedicated foot path is an ideal way to minimize compaction where plants
grow.
… garden boxes provide a convenient way to work the soil,
… prepare the soil for planting seeds or transplants, remove weeds, and harvest the produce
without ever having to step on the soil.
This foot path helps direct traffic through the garden area,
… around raised beds and helps people know where to step and keep them from walking where
plants are growing.
If designated footpaths around raised beds aren't an option you can use a long board to walk on
and distribute your weight while …
… you're taking care of the garden.
Plants that are raised for crops in a field respond the same to compaction as plants raised in a
garden.
You would probably never think of driving heavy equipment over your garden soil, but this
happens in crop fields all the time.
Crop producers need to use heavy equipment to efficiently prepare the soil, plant seeds remove
weeds, and harvest their crops.
Each time equipment is used on a soil, the soil can become a little more compact.
In many cases, farmers use tillage to loosen the soil to increase the amount of air and water a
soil can hold for the plants.
Just like we saw with the garden, crop producers can take important steps to prevent or limit the
amount of compaction taking place.
One way to reduce compaction is to select a designated wheel track in a field to follow when
driving through a field.
This limits compaction to a small area of soil.
Another is to make sure to use the right type of tire,
… add more tires, or use a track treads to distribute the weight of equipment over a greater area.
An important point to remember is to stay off the soil with equipment when soil conditions are not
right for supporting them.
Soils with a lot of moisture are more likely to be compressed than when they are drier.
Once a soil is damaged through compaction, deep tillage may be needed to open the soil back
up for plant roots to move through.
The compact layer is sometimes called a plow pan.
If the pan is too compacted,
… plant roots will not be able to move through it and cannot get access to the moisture and
nutrients deep within the soil that can …
… sustain the plants during the growing season.
Just like the signs that remind us to stay on the trails in parks and public gardens,
… for the health of the soil and the plants growing in them,
… staying on the path is important to garden vegetables and crops in the field as well.
healthy plants come from healthy soils.
Video quiz questions

Choose the correct options.

1. What will he talk about today?

a. Keeping Soil Healthy
b. Rotating Crops
c. Recycling Waste
d. Conserving the Environment

2. Fill in the gaps.

a. Just like you and me, plant roots need to have ________and _________ to support a
normal life.
b. The best way to protect against compaction is ________________.
c. In many cases, farmers use ___________to loosen the soil to increase the amount of air
and water a soil can hold for the plants.
d. One way to reduce compaction is to select a _____________ in a field to follow when
driving through a field.

3. Guess the end.

What happens to plant roots in compacted soil?
_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Vocabulary list
Till (Verb)
To prepare land for growing crops.

Soil (Noun)
The upper layer of dirt where plants grow.

Soil Compaction (Noun)

The compression of soil particles