Justin white

March 8, 2010
A.P.E.S.
Hudson
Kamanski, Ami, Cory
Finding Soil Productivity
Introduction- soil productivity is the capacity of a soil to support plant growth.
This would relate to human’s impact on the environment, because if there is
higher soil productivity then the less space we would need for crops. Our soil
was obtained from 140 goat road west Tifton, Georgia.
Problem/ Purpose- By finding the factors that determine soil productivity it
would allow us to change elements and consecutively maximize soil productivity.
Hypothesis- as a group we decided that our soil sample would be a good
farming soil because of the water availability and the nutrients around it.
Procedures- the first test was the water holding capacity, in which we used
samples of sand, clay, humus, and the soil and found how much water each
could hold. For this test we used four plastic columns, four vials, four rubber
bands, 8 one inch squares of cheese cloth, grease pencil, scissors, ruler, 30ml
measuring cup, and a large beaker. This shows that our soil was either already
saturated or cannot hold water very well.
Clay Sand Humus Collected
soil

Weight of 2.83 g 2.83g 2.83g 2.83g

empty
column

Weight of 28.20g 22.85g 6.04g 33.30g

column and
soil

Weight of 25.37g 20.02g 3.21g 30.47g

soil

Weight of 35.93g 25.43g 6.79g 33.31g

column and
saturated
soil

Weight of 7.73g 2.58g .75g .01g

water

Water .30 .13 .23 .00033

holding
capacity
Justin white
March 8, 2010
A.P.E.S.
Hudson
Kamanski, Ami, Cory
The next test was the ion exchange test. Since nutrients have charges knowing
what the soil’s charge is will tell what nutrients it will hold on to. In this test we
used sand, clay, humus and our soil samples as well as four tubes, four vials, two
cotton balls, eight rubber bands, a 30ml measuring cup, a large beaker, grease
pencil, a pipette (3ml), and a mixing cup. Our soil had a high anion exchange (-)
with a low cation exchange (+), meaning that our soil has a + charge.
Crystal violet Eosin y

Volume of Color Volume of Color

water added intensity water added intensity

Sand 6ml Dark 2ml Med

Ion Low cation exchange Low anion exchange

exchange
capacity

Sand and 20ml Clear 9ml Light

clay

Ion High cation exchange Medium anion exchange

exchange
capacity

Sand and 20ml Clear 5ml Light

humus

Ion High cation Medium anion

exchange
capacity

Collected 4ml Dark 20ml Clear

sample

Ion Low cation exchange High anion exchange

exchange
capacity

The next test was the free ion test. This test shows what ions or nutrients are
present and also the PH. Using pipette, soil sample, clear jar with lid 4 soil test
kits with corresponding Indicator, with capsules, and a timer. Using test kits for
ph, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. We discovered that there were trace
amounts of nitrogen, low amounts of phosphorus, and med/low amounts of
potassium. Also the PH was 6. This indicates that nitrogen is a limiting factor.
Justin white
March 8, 2010
A.P.E.S.
Hudson
Kamanski, Ami, Cory
Test P (N) test (P) test (K) test
H

Soil 6 Trace Low 25 Med/low

Sample near 0 lb/acre 16lb/acre

Then we tested soil permeability. We used 4 plastic columns, samples of sand, clay,
humus, and our soil, 8 rubber bands, scissors, 8 squares of cheese cloth, 4 vials, ruler,
timer, large beaker, 30 ml measuring cup, and 3 paper towels, for this test. We first
covered one end of the columns with cheesecloth then filled the columns ¾ of the way
and used a rubber band for each and attached them to the inside of the vials, next we
poured 10ml of water and timed how long it took for on drop to come and then how long
it took it all to come, then using those saturated samples we did the same thing and
recorded the times and found that soil is more water permeable when it Is saturated but
also we found that the clay and the soil both had extremely low permeability indicating
that the soil is mostly clay.
Dry sample Wet sample

Time for first Time for entire Time for first Time for
drop sample drop entire sample

Sand 21 sec 60 sec 4 sec 125 sec

Clay 20 min+ 20 min+ 20 min+ 20 min+

Humus 14 sec 51 sec 4 sec 70 sec

Collected 394 sec 20 min+ 20 min+ 20 min+

sample
N next test was the texture and particle size. We used a jar with a lid, water, soil, soap,
calculator, ruler, and soil type chart. We filled the jar halfway with the soil and added
water to just below the lid and shook it for 30 seconds. Then we added the pump of soap
and allowed to settle overnight. Once it settled we measured the thickness of the entire
sample and each clay, sand, and silt sections dividing those by the thickness of the
entire sample and multiplying that by 100 to obtain the percents of each. Then using the
soil type chart we determined that our soil was sandy clay loam (however because of the
water permeability test we did this one over and did not have time to record those
results)
Depth of Depth of Depth of Total %cl %si %sa Soil type
clay layer silt layer sand layer depth ay lt nd

Collected 1.8cm .4cm 3.1cm 5.4cm 33% 7.4 57.6 Sandy

sample % % clay loam

Evaluation and conclusion- according to the information found the soil would have
a low productivity. The reason being that it doesn’t hold water very well and it has
Justin white
March 8, 2010
A.P.E.S.
Hudson
Kamanski, Ami, Cory
very few limiting nutrients. To improve productivity I would fertilize the soil and
possibly water often due to its poor water holding. These changes so basically
my hypothesis was incorrect because while it was saturated with water it did not
have nutrients necessary for productive plant growth would be acceptable for
crops. However, the productivity still would be possibly lower than that of other
areas without changing the soil. Any problems with our results I believe I have addressed
already.