EDUARDO P. PANINGBATAN, JR.

PhD
Professor of Soil Physics
 SOIL FORMATION
Soil is formed from the weathering of rocks and minerals

Factor Pedogenic
1. Climate Processes
2. Vegetation Weathering
3. Relief
Addition of
4. Parent Material
Organic
5. Time matter
Leaching
Soil Texture
and Structure
formation

Rock weathering Continued weathering

Hypothetical Soil Profile showing the A, B and C Horizons.
Lowland Soil Upland Soil

Upland Crops
Lowland Crops
Upland rice
Paddy Rice
Corn
peanut
vegetables
Plant need of a Soil
The soil should be able to provide the plants:

Adequate amount of available nutrients

* 16 essential nutrient elements

Sufficient amount of water to satisfy enormous amount of evapo-

transpiration needs

* Water requirement of most crops is 500 ml water / gm dry matter

* 1 ha of corn will require about 5 million liter water per cropping.

Adequate amount air in the soil

* O2 for root respiration

Favorable environment for root growth

* favorable temperature, free from toxic materials and pathogens
* firm but with low impedance to root growth
 Soil is particulate and porous

Soil Solid
mineral matter and
organic matter

Physical Component of a Soil

 inorganic matter
organic matter
20% water
air

45%

30%

5%
Pore Space (50 %) Soil Solids (50%)

Fig. 1. Soil Composition showing the approximate

volumetric proportion of the constituents.
 inorganic matter
organic matter
20% water
air

45%

30%

5%
Soil Structure - The pattern of arrangement of individual soil particles into aggregate
and the aggregate into a soil mass.
 an indicator of soil structure

Lower values of Bulk density is associated with higher

porosity and good soil structure.
Some bulk density values and their interpretation

1.0 - 1.3 g/cm3 Normal soil

> 1.3 g/cm3 Compacted soil, poor soil structure
< 1.0 g/cm3 Very loose soil