SOILby Bwalya Bwalya | 20-02-2019 16:57 |
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One of the global threats to soil ecosystem services is soil compaction. Compacted soil can be as a result of either natural soil formation processes human induced activities such as the use of tillage equipment during soil cultivation. The aforementioned posses great costs to society as a whole. Furthermore, soil compaction can have a number of negative effects both on the quality of soil as well as the crop production. Compacted soil restricts root growth as well as penetration into subsoil. This can lead to stunted , drought -stressed plants as a result of restricted water and nutrient uptake which leads to reduced crop yields. Preventing soil compaction is far much better than trying to correct a compaction problem after it occurs. There are a number of management options that can be implemented to minimize the risk of soil compaction. Some of these include minimizing the field traffic areas on fields (by loading wagons /trucks on the road) , implementing good agricultural methods, minimizing or eliminating soil tilage to prevent soil aggregate breakdown to mention but afew. |
