What effect does soil have on the growth of plants?

If crops want to grow smoothly and healthily, they need the help of soil. In the process of plant growth, soil mainly plays four roles: 1, which plays a supporting role and makes crops more accessible to light sources; 2. Provide water and oxygen needed for crop growth; 3. Provide nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; 4. It plays a buffering role for high-concentration nutrients and dense microorganisms.

Supporting function of soil

It provides mechanical support for green plants to take root and sprout in the soil, and the roots stretch and intersperse in the soil, ensuring that the aboveground parts of green plants can stand stably in nature.

Supply of soil moisture and organic acids

Soil is a granular structure composed of mineral particles, soil organic matter and other large and small particles, and water and air are stored in the gaps of its particles. The interstitial water and air of soil aggregate structure can be used by crops.

It is very important to maintain moderate moisture and air between soil particles, and at the same time provide sufficient moisture and good drainage. In other words, the soil should be kept loose and moist.

Supply of nutrients in soil

Soil contains nutrients necessary for crop growth. Mineral ions of these nutrients combine with humus in soil, and some nutrients such as K and N are easy to be lost, while some nutrients such as P, Ca and Mg are easy to be fixed by soil and difficult to be absorbed by crops. Soil also has the ability to store water, maintain soil water content and supply nutrients.

In addition to fresh animal and plant remains (coarse organic matter), there are brown or black organic matter with clear structure and irregular shape, which we call humus. The mineral nutrients of soil in humus combine with humic acid to form humus complex, which can maintain inorganic nutrients or aggregate soil and improve the nutrient retention capacity of soil.

Clay and humus have small particle size, so they have larger surface area than gravel with the same volume and can attach a lot of nutrients. Nitrogen and potassium can be adsorbed on the surface of humus and gradually absorbed by crops. This is also the reason why soil with high humus content is easy to retain water and fertilizer, while soil nutrients in sandy soil are easy to lose.

Soil can be used as a buffer environment.

When the environment where crops grow changes dramatically, the soil can provide a buffer for plants: 1, and the temperature change amplitude decreases; 2. When the nutrient and pH value change dramatically, the soil can play the role of chemical buffer; 3. The soil can maintain a diverse microbial environment, and when the pathogenic bacteria increase sharply, the damage caused by the pathogenic bacteria can be appropriately buffered. For the healthy growth of crops, it is very important to improve the buffering capacity of soil.