Introduction
Arable soil can be described as soil tilled or ploughed regularly, usually under a crop rotation system. It is also an agricultural soil that is filled by crops sown as well as harvested in a similar agricultural year, at times over one time. Soil can as well be regarded as arable if it is utilized as temporary hayfields for pasture or mowing, kitchen and market gardens, and temporary fallow land. This means that this kind of soil is not sown for one or more seasons of growing, but it is not left to lie idle for over five years. Arable soil is regarded as the most appropriate soil for growing crops due to its proper nutrients balance as well as environmental conditions. Non arable soil can, on the other hand, be defined as soil that is not suitable for growing crops. Non-arable soil is regarded as less desirable for farming due to its arid climate, cold climate, large quantity of rocks or mountains, high rate of precipitation, high pollution levels, low nutrients, and large quantity of sand or salts.
Nevertheless, even though this land is regarded as less desirable for farming, it can be improved through a number of ways to enhance its productivity. Turning a non-arable soil into arable often entails excavation new canals of irrigation as well as new wells and aqueducts. It also involves plants desalination, trees planting to provide shade in the desert, use of fertilizer, hydroponics, pesticides, nitrogen fertilizer, reversal of osmosis water processors, digging hills and ditches to offer protection against the wind, as well as construction of greenhouses that have internal heat and light to offer protection against the cold from the outside and to offer light in cloudy areas.
The nitrogen fertilizer was used in this lab, and it was a key element in production of the plant. The plant takes in nitrogen and via photosynthesis transforms it into a carbohydrate, sugar, which is the unit for productions of the plant cell. The non-arable soil selected for this experiment contains every basic need for the growth of a plant with the exception of deficiencies of nutrients. Using equal amounts of nitrogen on maize crops planted in arable and non-arable soil, it was anticipated that there would be a progressive increase in crop yields with higher amounts of nitrogen. The arable soil was also expected to give higher yields than the non-arable soil.
Methodology
In this experiment, equal maize plants were planted each in arable and non-arable soil. The plants were grown in 100 acres of land, and the first crops were planted without the addition of nitrogen to the soil. The second crops planted were added 20kg of nitrogen while, in the 3rd crops, 40kg of nitrogen was added to the soil. In the remaining crops nitrogen was added in 20kg increments until the last crop had reached a total of 180kg of nitrogen. Each crop’s yield was then recorded to demonstrate the total amount of dry mass of maize, which was harvested from the arable and non-arable soil.
Results
The results demonstrated that addition of nitrogen to arable and non-arable soil raised total harvest of dry mass up to of nitrogen per 100 acres. The arable soil gave 20.8mg of dry mass for each 100 acres, each year with 140mg of nitrogen per 100 acres. Non-arable soil, on the other hand, gave 21.8mg of dry mass for each 100 acres each year with 140 kg of nitrogen per 100 acres. Addition of 160kg and 180kg of nitrogen reduced harvest in the two soil types. In non-arable soil, there was a reduction of the harvest to 21.1mg for each 100 acres each year at 160kg and a reduction to 20.1mg per 100 acres per year at 180kg. In arable soil, there was a decrease in harvest to 20.4mg for each 100 acres per year at 160kg, and to 20.1mg for each 100 acres per year at 180kg.
The maize crops planted in non-arable soil gave more dry mass of 21.8mg per 100 acres per year at 140kg of nitrogen than the ones planted in arable soil, which gave 20.8mg of dry mass per 100 acres at 140kg.
Conclusion
This experiment demonstrated that nitrogen significantly increases plant crop production that too much nitrogen decreases total crop harvest and that non-arable soil can give have higher productivity than the arable soil under the right conditions.
Works Cited
Suzuki, D. T., et al. An introduction to genetic analysis. Cranbury, N. J.: WH Freeman and Company, 1986.
