JORD230 Soil as Plant Growth Medium

Content: Soil physics: The volumetric relationships in soil, consistency, soil water, soil air, soil temperature, soil compaction, erosion and soil amendment. Biogeochemical processes: Ion exchange, sorption, precipitation, weathering, redox reactions. Plant nutrition: mineralization, availability of plant nutrients in soil, nutrient uptake, roots and rhizosphere, mycorrhiza. Effects of plant nutrients on the plant growth and quality.

The student should understand physical and bio-geo-chemical characteristics and processes in soil influencing the plant availability of plant nutrients. Soil physics: The student should be able to describe and perform calculations of soil physical characteristics and processes. The student should understand the effects of soil physical conditions on the plant growth and development. The student should understand how organic matter, tillage, compaction and erosion will influence the soil physical characteristics in short and long term. Soil chemistry and soil fertility: The student should learn how to perform soil sampling in field and preparation for further chemical analysis of plant nutrients in the laboratory. The student should be able to assess the importance of soil variability based on some simple soil chemical analysis. The student should be able to estimate binding, release and availability of different ions in soils and understand the dynamic of nutrients from soil to plants. This include nutrient release, availability and plant uptake. To a certain degree, the student should understand how the different plant nutrients have a unique role in the plant metabolism and the how they influence the plant growth and quality. The student will also get practical experience with identifying nutrient deficiency symptoms.