Soil Science

PRINCIPLES OF SOIL SCIENCE
Lecture (60%)
Item Course Requirement Percentage (%)

1 Four (4) unit test/term examinations 15
2 One (1) final examination (integrative) 20
3 Quizzes 10
4 Reaction paper/ Project 15
Laboratory (40%)
Item Course Requirement Percentage (%)

1 Final examination 10
2 Laboratory exercises 20
3 Laboratory performance (hands-on 5
activities)
4 Attendance 5
Fundamentals Concepts and Definition
• Components of the Global Ecosystem

• The Pedosphere
• Definition of Soil
• Hierarchy of study of soil, dimensions and boundaries
• Importance and function of soils
• Concepts of the study of soil
• History of Soil Science
• Divisions of Soil Science
Ecosystem
What is an ecosystem
• An ecosystem is a grouping of organisms that interact with

each other and their environment in such a way as to
preserve the grouping.
• There is a great variety of ecosystems in existence, all of
them are characterized by general structural and functional
attributes.
Three major principles of ecosystem
•Nutrient cycling:
• Movement of chemical elements from the environment
into living organisms and from them back into the
environment through organisms live, grow, die and
decompose.
•Energy flow:
• Energy is required to transform inorganic nutrients into
organic tissues of an organism.
• Energy is the driving force to the work of ecosystem.
•Structure
• It refers to the particular pattern of inter-relationships
that exists between organisms in an ecosystem.
Nutrient cycling
Energy flow
Structure
Ecosystem:
Nutrient cycling, energy flow and structure
Components of an ecosystem
Abiotic components
• They form the environment and determine the
type / structure of ecosystem.
• Sunlight (temperature)
• Nutrients
• Rainfall, minerals, carbon, nitrogen,…..
• Type of ecosystems:
• Tropical rainforest, Desert, Tundra, Grassland,…..
Distribution of vegetation / ecosystem
Biotic components
• Producers (Autotrophs):
• All green plants. They use solar energy, chlorophyll,
inorganic nutrients and water to produce their own food.
(Photosynthesis)
• Consumers:
• They consume the organic compounds in plant and animal
tissues by eating.
• Herbivores (plant feeders) Primary consumers
• Carnivores (meat eaters) Secondary consumers
• Omnivores (general feeders)
Biotic components
• Decomposers
• They are tiny organisms includes bacteria and
fungi, which turn organic compounds in dead
plants and animals into inorganic materials.
• They cause the continual recirculation of
chemicals within ecosystem (nutrient cycle).
Biotic components and food chain
SOIL AS AN ECOSYSTEM
What do we know about soil

now?
•What makes up soil?
•What lives there?
•Where does soil come
from?
•How does soil contribute to
the ecological community of
place?
INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

The soil ecosystem is called “The

Pedosphere” (From the root word
pedology, which means the study
of soil).

Some terms we should learn to talk about soils:
•Definition: Ecosystem:
An interacting natural environment which includes all
the animal and plant life that is found.

Definition: Organic:
Materials that contain carbon compounds. Most
living things contain carbon compounds.

Definition: Organic:
Materials that contain carbon compounds. Most
living things contain carbon compounds.
Definition: Inorganic:
Materials such as minerals that are not products of
organic life.

Parts of a Soil Ecosystem:

Soil Air: Pore Soil Organic Matter:
spaces for the Organic materials and
exchange of gases. biological life that is
incorporated into the
soil.
Soil Water: Stored
in the soil for plant
Soil Minerals: rocks
use. Contains
and soil particles that
important nutrients
make up soil solids.
for plant growth.

Soil Organic
Soil Air: Matter:
About 25% About 6%
Soil Water: Soil Minerals:

About 25% About 44%

Soil Organic
Soil Air: Mater:
About 25% About 6%
Soil Water: Soil Minerals:

About 25% About 44%

Why we study SOILS?
 resource from which we derive such basic needs such

as FOOD, FIBER AND SHELTER.
 it is a medium on which all our food crops, fiber crops

and lumber are grown.
It influences the distribution of plant species and

provides a habitat for a wide range of organisms.
What is SOIL?
The soil is a mixture of organic

and inorganic materials which
developed on the earth’s
surface through weathering
processes. It serves as a
medium for plant growth.
I’m a LAYMAN
-SOIL is a dirt that
must be washed off from my
body.
Hey little buddies!!
-I’m a FARMER. A
soil is a medium that
provides physical
support, nutrients and
water to my crops.
I’m a GEOLOGIST!!
A soil is an obstacle that must be
cleared for me to get the rocks and
minerals that I am studying or a clue
to the nature and history of the
materials underneath
the soil.
CONSTRUCTION ENGINEER
-A soil is a material that
must be compacted and
manipulated so that I can build
stable foundations for his roads
and buildings.
MINING ENGINEER
-A soil is a material I
must excavate to get the
deposits I am interested in.
SOIL SPECIALISTS
-soil is a mixture of organic and
inorganic materials formed from weathering
of rocks and minerals and whose properties
are conditioned in various degrees by the
influence of climate, living organisms and
relief acting on the parent material over a
period of time.
-It is a natural body with

dimensions of thickness and with indistinct
horizontal boundaries enabling it to blend
with other soils and vertical boundaries of
air above it and the unweathered rocks
below it.
 Natural body synthesized in a
profile form;
 composed of variable mixtures
of broken and weathered rocks
and minerals and decaying
organic matter covering the
earth in thin layer;
 which when containing the
proper amounts of moisture
and air can supply sustenance
and mechanical support to
plants.
Function of soil in our ecosystem
• Soil supports the growth of higher plants.

• Soil properties are the principal factor
controlling the fate of water in the hydrologic
cycle. Water loss, utilization, contamination,
and purification are all affected by soil.
• The soil functions as nature’s recycling system.
• Soils provide habitats for a myriad of living
organisms.
• In human built ecosystem, soil plays an
important role as an engineering medium.
APPROACHES IN THE STUDY OF SOILS
1. PEDOLOGICAL APPROACH
 Greek:pedon- soil or earth
 considers soil as natural entity, a biochemically weathered
and synthesized product of nature. Certain aspects, such
as the origin of the soil, classification, and its description.
 The study of soils for their taxonomic classification.
 Pedology is the study of soil as a natural body and does
not focus on the soil’s immediate practical use.
APPROACHES IN THE STUDY OF SOILS
2. EDAPHOLOGICAL APPROACH
Greek:edaphos- soil or ground
conceives of the soil as natural habitat of plant.
Edaphology is the study of the soil from the stand point of
higher plants. It considers the various properties of soils as
they relate to plant growth and production.
The study of soil fertility
HISTORY IN THE STUDY OF SOIL SCIENCE
• Contemporaries Friedrich Albert Fallou, the German founder

of modern soil science, and Vasily Dokuchaev, the Russian
founder of modern soil science, are both credited with being
among the first to identify soil as a resource whose
distinctness and complexity deserved to be separated
conceptually from geology and crop production and treated
as a whole.
• Friedrich Albert Fallou- a founding father of soil science
Fallou and was working on the origins of soil`
• Previously, soil had been considered a product of chemical
transformations of rocks, a dead substrate from which plants
derive nutritious elements. Soil and bedrock were in fact
equated.
• Dokuchaev considers the soil as a natural body having its own
genesis and its own history of development, a body with
complex and multiform processes taking place within it.
• The soil is considered as different from bedrock.
• The latter becomes soil under the influence of a series of soil-
formation factors (climate, vegetation, country, relief and age).
• According to him, soil should be called the "daily" or outward
horizons of rocks regardless of the type; they are changed naturally
by the common effect of water, air and various kinds of living and
dead organisms.
Fields of study in SOIL SCIENCE
Soil Physics
Soil Chemistry
Soil Mineralogy

Soil Science

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PRINCIPLES OF SOIL SCIENCE

Item Course Requirement Percentage (%)

Item Course Requirement Percentage (%)

• Components of the Global Ecosystem

• An ecosystem is a grouping of organisms that interact with

What do we know about soil

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

The soil ecosystem is called “The

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

Soil Water: Soil Minerals:

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

Soil Water: Soil Minerals:

INTRODUCTION TO SOILS FIELD STUDY

 resource from which we derive such basic needs such

 it is a medium on which all our food crops, fiber crops

It influences the distribution of plant species and

The soil is a mixture of organic

-It is a natural body with

• Soil supports the growth of higher plants.

• Contemporaries Friedrich Albert Fallou, the German founder

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