7 CHARACTERISTICS OF FERTILE SOIL
Soil is defined as the top layer of the earth's crust. It is formed by mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms. It is in fact an extremely complex, variable, and living medium. Soil fertility refers to the ability of a soil-related to plants its ease of tillage, the fitness of seedbed, and impedance to seedling emergence and root penetration by providing nutrients and suitable soil structure to support the plants/trees growth. Fertile soil has the following characteristics: It is rich in nutrients necessary for basic plant nourishment. This includes nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It consists of adequate minerals such as boron, chlorine, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, sulphur, and zinc. These minerals promote plant nutrition. It contains soil organic matter that improves the structure of the soil . This enables the soil to retain more moisture. The soil pH is in the range 6.0 to 6.8. It has a good soil structure which r...