1) Agricultural soil pollution occurs when pollutants contaminate soil used for agriculture. Common causes include excess fertilizers and pesticides, solid wastes, and acid rain. 2) Fertilizers can make soil acidic or alkaline if used in excess, and pesticides can enter the food chain. Solid wastes from farming and industries pollute soil and spread diseases. 3) A case study found that tomato and spinach can help remediate soil polluted with heavy metals by absorbing the metals into their shoots. However, heavy metal pollution decreases soil organic content and plant growth. Proper waste disposal and reducing agricultural chemicals can help prevent soil pollution.

1. BIDHAN CHANDRAKRISHI VISWSVIDYALAYA
DEPARTMENTOF SOIL & WATERCONSERVATION
COURSE NO - SWC 649 SEMINAR 1 DATE –17/02/2020
AGRICULTURAL SOIL POLLUTION
Chairman : Dr. N.C.Das
Seminar leader - Dr. R.Ray
Speaker – Subhayan Das

2. WHAT IS SOIL?
 Soil is the upper layer of the earth, in
which plants grow.
 Soil is unconsolidated natural bodies
or materials forming by natural
action by weathering process .
 It Is composed of mineral
matter, organic matter, air and water.
 It is differentiated by
different horizons .

3. POLLUTION
• Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural
environment that cause adverse change.
Types
Air pollution
Water pollution
Soil pollution
Noise pollution
Thermal pollution

4. The contamination of soil
with pollutants, by
agricultural solid wastes,
excess application of
fertilizers, Insecticides and
herbicides is called
agricultural soil pollution (or
land pollution).
What is Agricultural Soil Pollution?
Source- FAO.org

5. Sources of Agricultural Soil Pollution
Agricultural solid Wastes
Fertilizers
Insecticides and Herbicides
Acid Rain

6. • Agricultural Solid Wastes
Field Waste
•Weed
•Straw
Animal Waste
•Animal excreta
•Animal carcasses
Agro-industrial Waste
•Packaging material
•Sugarcane molasses, peals
•Paddy husk
Picture source- thebetterindia.com

7. Solid Waste Composition
Source- Estimate of ministry of forest & environment

8. The use of excess fertilisers to
increase the crop yields makes
the soil either acidic or alkaline
and pollutes it. For example,
excessive use of ammonium
sulphate fertilisers makes the soil
highly acidic whereas the
excessive use of sodium nitrate
fertilisers makes the soil highly
alkaline.
FERTILIZERS

9. Insecticides and Herbicides like
sodium arsenite (Na3AsO3),
sodium chlorate (NaCLO3) are
poisonous chemicals which are
used to spray standing crops to
prevent them from harmful insects
and herbs. These insecticides and
herbicides mix with the soil and
pollute it.
INSECTICIDES AND
HERBICIDES

10. • Acid Rain
Acid Rain is caused by air pollution.
Agricultural air pollution comes
mainly in the form of ammonia(NH3)
from heavily fertilized fields and
livestock waste. Then it reacts with
nitrogen oxides (NOx) & sulphur(SO2)
and mix with water and oxygen and
form acid rain. The acidic water falls
on the soil and pollutes it by making
the soil acidic.
Picture source- nationalgeographic.com
Fig- Effect of acid rain on trees

11. Harmful Effects
It will increase the exposure to toxic and
harmful chemical thus increasing health
threats to people living nearby and on the
degraded land. Living in the contaminated
soil can lead to respiratory disease , skin
disease etc.
The surface run-off water carry the polluted
soil and enter into different water resources.
Thus, it can cause underground water
contamination thereby causing water
pollution.
Source- National geographic society

12. The pollution caused by the
excessive use of fertilizers also
reduces the fertility of the soil
and crop yields by making the
soil either highly acidic or highly
alkaline.
The soil pollution caused by the
use of insecticides and
herbicides in agriculture is very
dangerous because these
chemicals can enter our food
chain and damage our health.

13. The agro-industrial solid wastes
destroy the natural beauty and
become a breeding ground for
which spread
like malaria and
mosquitoes
diseases
Dengue.
Land Pollution caused by acid
rain reduce the fertility of soil
leading to reduction of crop
yields.
Mosquito Breeding

14. ESTIMATION OF LOSSES DUE TO SOIL POLLUTION
Crop
Avg. yield (q/ha) Avg. yield (q/ha) Yield reduction
(q/ha)
Normal condition Polluted condition
Wheat 36 29 7
Gram 12.5 9 3.5
Soybean 15 11.5 3.5
Methi 18 12 6
Garlic 60 45 15
Saha and Sharma
(2006)

15. Modes Of Waste
Disposal
Landfills Recycling Composting Production Biogas
& manure
“DISPOSAL OF WASTES”-MEANS ‘TO GET RID OF WASTE’.
• The disposal of waste should be done in a scientific
way. There are different methods of waste disposal. The
methods to be used depends on the nature of the
waste. Some of the important modes of waste disposal
are:-
Modes of Waste Disposal
Incineration

16. Most of the solid
wastes in urban areas are
buried in low-lying areas to
level the uneven ground.
This is called Landfills.
LANDFILLS

17. RECYCLING
It is the method of recovery and processing of
biodegradable wastes or materials after they have
been used, For example, solid wastes like paper,
plastics and metals, etc., are recycled. Industrial
wastes are treated in special plants and valuable
wastes are recycled.
Composting
In this method, the domestic waste like fruit and
vegetable waste, left-over food, leaves of potted
plants etc., can be converted into compost and
used as manure.

18. It means ‘reduction to ashes’. The burning of a
substance at high temperature to form ash is called
Incineration. It is used to destroy household waste,
chemical waste and biological waste. Incineration is
carried out in incinerator.
CONTROLLED INCINERATION

19. PRODUCTION OF BIOGAS & MANURE
In this method Cow dung is fed into biogas plants to produce
biogas and obtain manure.

20. A CASE STUDY
Fig:-Tomato and Spinach cultivation on polluted soil
• Phytoremediation of soil polluted with heavy metals
using tomato and spinach.
• Author- Vir Sing (GBPU,Uttarakhand,2018)

21. Tomato and spinach are well known hyper-accumulators.
It was observed that the presence of heavy metals in the
soil decreases the soil organic contents. After harvesting
when they examined the concentration of heavy metals
in the shoots of both plants, with the help of Atomic
Absorption Spectrophotometer, the concentration of Cu
and Pb was found high in the shoots of contaminated
tomato and low in the shoots of tomato grown with
spinach in controlled soil pot.

22. THE DATA SET
Fig:-Metal concentration in control soil ,treated soil
at the time of sowing and harvesting

23. CONCLUSION
Soil pollution is one of the major type of pollution,
this pollution is actually present due to the human
made chemicals. The agricultural chemicals are also
playing the part to make the soil dirty. Moreover
human waste material improper disposal also one of
the major cause for this. Contamination of
underground water causes the spread of diseases very
rapidly. The steps should be taken to stop it in order
to prevent the harmful effect of this pollution.

24. REFERENCE
• Arya M(2018),Thesis, Phytoremediation of soil polluted with heavy metals using
tomato and spinach.(GBPU),UK
• Dr. R.K Mishra et al., (2016), Soil pollution: Causes, effects and control, Tropical
Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, MP, India
• Adhikari S, Gupta SK, Banerjee SK (1993) Heavy metals content of city sewage and
sludge. Indian Soil Sci
• Andersen, J.N. (2000). Management of contaminated sites and land in Central and
Estern Europe: Ad Hoc International Working Group on Contaminated Land.
• Picture source-Nationalgeographic.com

25. THANK YOU