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Soil Wars

Soil Wars. Mark Cerny, Jenny Gallow, Kyle Gibson, Diana Maikut. Questions to Investigate: What is soil quality? What factors affect soil quality? Why is soil quality important? What type of soil exhibits the highest levels of quality? Predictions:

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Soil Wars

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  1. Soil Wars Mark Cerny, Jenny Gallow, Kyle Gibson, Diana Maikut

  2. Questions to Investigate: • What is soil quality? • What factors affect soil quality? • Why is soil quality important? • What type of soil exhibits the highest levels of quality? • Predictions: • An organic-rich topsoil with roughly 5% humus will most successfully support plant growth, which shows it is of the highest quality • We took this sample from the wooded area surrounding the Marcum Nature Trail

  3. Background Information • The functions of soil include exchanging water, nutrients, and • air with plant life that it supports. • Erosion takes away valuable nutrients and reduces the stability • of the soil. • Compaction reduces the amount of space between particles, • which increases the density of soil. This restricts the rooting • depth because there are fewer amounts of nutrients and water • available to plants. • Beans are a fast growing plant, being why we decided to • grow them.

  4. What is soil quality? • "Soil quality is a concept based on the premise that management can deteriorate, stabilize, or improve soil ecosystem functions." (Franzluebbars, 2001) • "capacity of a specific kind of soil to function, within natural or managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or exchange water and air quality, and support human health and habitation." (Soil Quality Institute, 2001) • Not all soils exhibit the same levels of quality due to the composition of the various types. • Soil quality is not a permanent, stable condition. It changes and evolves from day to day as external influences act on it.

  5. What factors affect soil quality? • Erosion- Removes nutrients and reduces stability • Compaction- Reduces amount of space between particles which restricts plants’ ability to root • Crusting/ Excessive Wetness- Soil cannot effectively make use of the amount of water it is receiving • Amount of organic material- "Soil organic material... improves tilth in the surface horizons, reduces crusting, increases the rate of water infiltration, reduces runoff, and facilitates penetration of plant roots." (National Soil Survey Center, 1996) The humus can be identified as a dark brown, porous, almost sponge like material within the soil. It usually accounts for 5% of the volume of a sample. It improves soil quality by reducing erosion, storing and transporting water, disallowing compaction, and storing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. This counteracts many of the concerns that threaten soil quality.

  6. What Did We Use? • Soil Types - • Organic-Rich Topsoil • Potting Soil (Metro-Mix) • Clay Soil • Sandy Soil • Fertilization Methods - • No Fertilizer • Chemical Fertilizer (Miracle Gro) • Natural Fertilizer ( Horse Manure)

  7. Procedural Over-view: Planting - Each soil was divided and put into three separate flats each (3 flats per soil type). Each flat received 10 Bush Bean plant seeds (30 seeds per soil type). One week after the seeds were planted, fertilizers were applied. For each soil type, one flat received a chemical, one a natural, and one no fertilizer. This was repeated every 10 days as suggested.

  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Ratings - 0 (Dead) to 5 (best)

  9. Results! (on November 7, 2002)

  10. Nutrient Rich Metro Mix Sandy Clay-Like

  11. Nutrient Rich Sandy Clay-Like Metro Mix

  12. Results Basic Statistics - Height

  13. Basic Statistics - Health Index

  14. T test - Final Height

  15. T test - Final Mass

  16. T test - Root Mass

  17. So, What Does It All Mean? • Metro mix ranked the best for height, bean mass, and health • 25 cm mean height, 3.595 mean health • Fertilization method is not significant regarding the growth of • bean plants • Metro mix with natural fertilizer was the combination that • produced the plants with the most height and mass

  18. Possible Sources for Error • Amount of water received on a consistent basis • Overcrowding of plants • Amount of sunlight for each flat • Dead plants • Health rating subjective • Different people measuring each week • Not an entire growth cycle for the plants

  19. Further Research Opportunities • Isolate different fertilization methods with only one soil type • Test over multiple growing seasons • Amount of time for harvest (first, last, longest) • Differences between various store-bought soil types • Redo experiment in a different, not controlled environment

  20. THE END.

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