Soil fertility history

1. History of soil fertility and
plant nutrition
Dr. B. Balaganesh, M.Sc. (Ag.), Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor (Soil Science)
School ofAgricultural Sciences,
Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences,
Coimbatore – 641 114

2.  The period in the development of the human race during
which man began the cultivation of plants marks the dawn
of agriculture.
 The exact time is not known, but it was certainly several
thousands of years BC. Until then, man was nomadic in his
habits
 In all ages the growth of plants has interested thoughtful
man The mystery of the change of an apparently lifeless
seed to a vigorous growing plant never loses its freshness,
and constitutes, indeed, no small part of the charm of
gardening.

3.  The economic problems are of vital importance, and
become more and more urgent as time goes on and
population increases and their needs become more
complex.
 We know now the facts about the needs of essential
nutrients and other factors of plant growth. These facts are
the result of a few hundred years of thinking and research.
We thus need to know how this subject developed
historically.

4. Cultivation
for food
of plants
allowed
convert
humans to
from a nomadic
hunting and gathering
lifestyle toa more
settled existence.

5. Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates River
in what is now Iraq
• shows evidence of very early civilization. Writings
dating to 2500 B.C. mention fertility of the land.
Fertility was due to annual flooding of the land and
a system of canals were built for irrigation of crops.

6. On uplands shifting agriculture was
necessary "slash and burn“

7. Did the ancient
Egyptians know
anything aboutsoil
fertility?

8. Ancient Egyptian murals
show lots of agricultural
practices - tillage, planting,
irrigation and harvesting
but
no fertilization

9. Roman art also reveals a lot
about theiragriculture.
In addition to Saturn and Ceres
(Roman god and goddess of
Agriculture), the Romans had a
god of manure named Stercutius
who was worshiped by old
women and children.

10. A number of Roman authors (e.g., Cato, Columella,
Pliny the Elder) wrote detailed textbooks on
agriculture that described the use of animal manures,
green manures and crop rotations to improve soil
productivity. These books were considered important
sources of information about agriculture for over a
thousand years.

11. Golden Ageof Greeks 800-200 BC
1.Manure increased productivity and prolonged land
use
2.Green manure crops, especially legumes, enriched
the soil
3. Marl increased productivity (liming)
4. Wood ashes were beneficial
5. Saltpeter (KNO3) was beneficial to plants
6. Salinesoils could bedetected by taste test

12. The earliest records of soil improvement using green
manures are from the Chou dynasty (~1000 BC) in China.
Later (500 BC), Tsi gave the following advice: “Green
manures are planted in the 5th or 6th month, and plowed
under in the 7th or 8th month... Their fertilizing value is as
good as silkworm excrement and well-rotted farm manure"
China has had more than 50 million people for more than
2000 yearsand currently has morethan 300 million farmers!

13. “ We desired to learn how it is
possible, after twenty and
perhaps thirty or even forty
centuries, for their soils to be
made to produce sufficiently
for the maintenance of such
dense populations.. “
FH King, 1911

14. Palissy
and
(1510-1589)
hydraulic
Bernard
Ceramicist
engineer
Far ahead of his time, Palissy
wrote: ”Manure is carried to the
field for the purpose of
restoring to the latter a part of
what had been removed...
Proceeding thus you will restore
to the soil the same substances
that have been removed by
previous crops and which
following crops will regain to
theiradvantage."

15. Jethro Tull invented the grain drill and
many complementary technologies that
resulted in large increases in grain yields
during the 18th century.

16. Tull’s theory of
plant nutrition
“All sorts of dung and compost
contain some matter, which,
when mixt with the soil,
ferments therein; and by such
ferment dissolves, crumbles,
and divides the earth very
much; This is the chief, and
almostonlyuseof dung...
The value of dung is not to
nourish, but to dissolve, i.e.,
divide the terrestrial matter,
which affords nourishment to
the mouths of vegetable
roots.”
JethroTull, 1731

17. 1733 James E. Oglethorpe
Experimental garden
on bluffs of Savannah
River in Georgia to
produce exotic food
crops.

18. Benjamin Franklin - Had
an interest in agriculture
and demonstrated the
value gypsum.
of
to hill in a
Applied
pattern which outlined
the words "This land has
been plastered" Quotes

19. Thomas Jefferson
(1743-1826)
Founding fatherand
agronomist . Quotes
related to agriculture.
Edmund Ruffin in Virginia
from 1825-1845 one of the
first to use lime on humid
region soils

20. The concept of soil fertility and its management to
improve crop yields is not new perhaps it is as old as
the development of agriculture by man.
In ancient time also, they had knowledge of applying
manures such as farm yard manure, green manure,
night soil, bone, wood ashes, etc., to soil for the
purpose of increasing crop yields.
History

21. • Human started practicing agriculture (10-12 thousand years back).
• Manuring is mentioned in "Vedas" and "Upanishads".
• Theophrastus (327BC-287BC) advocated that the thin soils
should be manured heavily
• Virgil (70BC-1
9BC) was well aware of benefits of green
manuring.
• Pliny (62-11
3AD) suggested that soils should be limed and the
effect of one application lasted for several years.
• The information with Romans was collected in a volume around
1240 and the book (Ruralium commodorium) by Pietro de
Crescenzi (1230- 1
307) (FATHER OF AGRONOMY)

22. • At the start of 1
6th century.
• Water was the principle nourishment for plants- Francis Bacon, 1561-1624.
• Water was the sole plant nutrient-Van Helmont (1577-1644)
• Van Helmont’s work was repeated several years later by Robert Boyle (1627-
1691) of England.
• He confirmed the findings of van Helmont plus one step further
• He did the chemical analyses of plant samples and stated that plants contained
salts, spirits, earth and oil, all of which were formed from water.
• KN03 (salt peter) was “principle of vegetation” and this was major source
of soil fertility (Glauber, 1606-1668) and Mayow (1643-1679)
• T
errestrial matter or earth rather than water- Principle of vegetation
( Woodward (around 1700)
Plant roots actually ingested soil particles through openinings in them after which
soil particles entered the plant's circulatory system (Jethrotull ,1674-1741)
(Horse HoeingHusbandry)- FA
THER OFAGRICULTURE

23. Jethro Tull(1674-1741) -
Thought small particles
were ingested by plants,
and that cultivating the
soil made it easier for
plants to take up soil
particles.
wrote the Book - "Horse
Hoeing Husbandry" and
developed the horse hoe
and the seed drill.

24. Arthur Young (1741-1820): did pot tests to find those
substances that would improve theyield of crops
•He grew Barley in sand and used the following
materials charcoal, train oil, poultry dung, spirits of
wine, niter, gunpowder, pitch, oyster shells and
numerous other materials
•Some produced plant growth, others did not. He
published his findings in Annals of Agriculture in 46
volumes.

25. Progress during the 19th century
• Theodore de Saussure (1804) attacked two problems of
Senebier – the effect of air on plants and the origin of salts in
plants.
• He grew plants in air or in known mixtures of air and CO2
and measured the gas changes and the changes in the plant.
• De Saussure was able to demonstrate that plants absorbed
O2 and liberated CO2.
• In addition, he found that plants would absorb CO2 with the
releaseof O2 in the presenceof light.
• Sir Humphrey Davy in 1813, stated that some plants may
have received their C from the air but major portion of it was
taken through the roots.
• He recommended oil as fertilizer because of its high C and H
content

26. • Views on soilfertility and crop nutrition changed after
Boussingault (1802-1882) concluded that carbon
from air and the soil provided only a smalIpart of
total plant food.
• Humphry Davy view that plants derived their
carbon mostly from the soilthus giving birthto
"HUMUSTHEORY" which was later to be
demolished by Justus Von Liebig (1803-1873).
• Much of the scientific thinkingwas changed by
Justus Von Liebigin 1840.

27. 1. Justus Von Liebig (1803-1873)
Laid the foundation for the
modern fertilizer industry.
(a)Stressed the value of mineral
elements from the soil
(b) Found that carbon in plants
comes from
atmosphere not
CO2 of the
from humus in
thesoil as was thoughtat the time
(c) Hydrogen and oxygen come
fromwater.
(d)The alkaline metals (Ca, Mg
and K) were needed to neutralize
acids formed by plants
(e)Phosphates are necessary for
seed formation
Modern Period (1800-1900)

28. 2.He manufactured
fertilizer but made the
mistake of fusing P and
K with lime (unavailable
to plants)
3.Liebig's Law of the
Minimum - If one of the
essential nutrients is
deficient, growth will be
poor even if all other
elements are abundant.
Liebig's Barrel

29. Liebig believed
that the ash
generated when a
crop is burned
contained the
optimal blend of
nutrients for
fertilizing the
crop
Liebig
recommended a
“check book”
approach to
fertilization
Non-metal oxides (C, N, H and S)
What is liberated and what is left behind
when plant biomass is burned ?
Metal oxides
(K, Ca, Mg, P
, Fe…)

30. • Establishment of long term field experiments at
Rothamsted(UK) in 1854 by Lawes and Gilbert.
• Hellriegal and Wilfarh discovered that legumes do
fix atmospheric N with the help of certain bacteria
living on their roots.
• The organism was later isolated by Beijernink in
1888 and named Bacillus radicicola (earlier name of
Rhizobium). He also isolated the N fixing bacteria
Azotobacter in 1901 and Azospirillum in 1925.
• Hopkins (1910)- permanent agriculture, which we
now know as sustainableagriculture.

31. • J.B. LAWE'S PATENT MANURES, composed of Super
Phosphate of Lime, Phosphate of Ammonia, Silicate of Potass,
& C., are now for sale at his Factory.
• J.B. Lawes opened one of the first fertilizer factories
in Europe and needed to convince farmers that they
should use his fertilizers.
Broadbalk demonstrated the value
of N and P fertilizerand that
manure was not necessary to
produce high cropyields the plots
receiving both manure and fertilizer
often produced the highestyields

32. • Soil properties as enunciated by the Russian
investigator V V Dokuchaev (1883) are dependent on factors like
climate, vegetation besides parent materials.
• This ushered the study of soil as a living entity and other aspects of soil
uses.
• Thus we study any soil on pedologic and edaphologic
aspects.
• The advancement soil studies in the 20th and 21st centuries have been
tremendous.
• Soil chemical processes, physical processes, biochemical and
microbiological are now studied in both destructive as well as non-
destructive methods.
• Soils are now classed as per their suitability to specific crop production or
other uses

33. Why do they keep all theseold samples ?
 Old samples provide answers to new
questions !
The Broadbalk archive
over
hay,
currently contains
200,000 bottles of
grainand soil

34. 19th centuryfarmers had
limited opportunities to
purchase nutrients.
Some used guano imported
from South America. Large
yield responseswere reported
forawide rangeof cropsafter
applications of guano.
Guano is a concentrated
sourceof N (~ 12 %) and P2O5
(~ 12 %), with much higher
analyses than most organic
fertilizers.

35.  Guano was mined intensively off the west coast of S.
America during the mid-to late 1800s. During the peak
years of guano mining, Great Britain imported over
150,000 tons annually.
Mountain of guano
off thecoastof Peru

36. Laboratory apparatus
designed by Fritz
Haber for producing
NH3 from H2 and
N2. The catalytic
process took place in
the large cylinder on
the left.

37. INDIAN SCE NA RIO
• In India, soilfertility as a discipline was born in 1882.
• J.W.Leather (father of agricultural chemistry) was appointed inthe first
scientific staff of the then Imperial Department of Agriculture
(Dehradun), later moved to Pusa, Bihar.
• Earlier discoveries suggested that Indian soils are poor in N

38. Criteria of essentiality
• BEFORE THAT
, What is mineral nutrition?
• The term mineral nutrient is genera lly used to refer to an
inorganic ion obtained from the soil and required for plant
growth. The process of absorption, translocation and
assimilation of nutrients by the plants is known as mineral
nutrition.

39. • Plant analysis reveals that plant body contains about 30 elements
and in some cases as many as 60 elements.
• The presence of several elements in plant does not mean that all these
are essential for plants. Arnon and Stout (1
939) proposed criteria
of essentiality which was refined by Arnon (1
954).
 An element is considered as essential- when plants cannot
complete vegetative or reproductive stage of life cycle due to
its deficiency.
 when this deficiency can be corrected or prevented only by
supplying this element and when the element is directly
involved in the metabolism of the plant.

40. Founded in 1865, BASF is the world's largest chemical
company, ahead of Dow and DuPont, ~ 100,000
employees, >80 billion in sales in 2007.
Karl Bosch worked for BASF and developed the
technology for upscaling Haber’s method of NH3
production.
Nitrates and ammonia made up 59 percent of BASF
sales in 1919.

41. Worldwide Growth In Fertilizer Use

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