What is it about?
When speaking about the soil it is most important to point out that we obtain more than 95% of food and raw materials for food from the soil. At the same time, a favorable fertile soil for this purpose is a very limited resource.
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Why is it important?
Soil science has developed as a part of agronomy and forestry profession. It is understandable that its focus were those soil characteristics that made it more or less suitable for growing plants, i.e., the focus was its production role. The problems of environmental damage (especially degradation and soil contamination), particularly of natural resources, in a certain way, have pushed this role. Only in recent decades, there is a growing interest in non-productive roles of the soil, in the first place those relating to environmental protection, in particular the protection of natural resources whose quality depends directly on soil and soil management.
Perspectives
The most important, indispensable and primary role of soil is supplying plants with water, air and nutrients, which enables the production of biomass - production of organic matter through photosynthesis. In this role the soil is an indispensable factor for the maintenance of life on Earth, for the plant/crop production in primary economic branches - agriculture and forestry. Production of organic matter in agriculture and forestry settles food and non-food needs of humans. Specifically, in this role soil allows us to supply food (bread, meat, milk, eggs, and mushrooms), drinks (wine, beer, and tea), beverages (fruit and grape juices, juices of various vegetables and other plants), fiber (wool, textile plants - cotton, linen, and hemp), medicinal plants and herbs and energy (firewood, biodiesel, alcohol as fuel). Furthermore, soil provides raw material for wood and food industry (flour, oil, sugar, fibers, caoutchouc), soil gives us materials for clothes and shoes (fur, leather), but also creates addicts (alcohol, tobacco, drugs - hashish, opium).
Ivica Kisic
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Soil treatment engineering, Physical Sciences Reviews, October 2017, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/psr-2016-0124.
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