- Soil Sampling
- Chemical and physical analysis
- Correlation and calibration of results
- Fertilizer recommendation
What does nutrient availability mean?
There are many distinct elements found in soil that are potentially available to plants, the soil testing process is done to estimate them as accurately as possible.
Soil contains three phases which exist in equilibrium- solid, liquid, and gas phase. The most significant equilibrium available between the soil phase and liquid phase (soil solution). This soil solution helps plants to absorb nutrients from the soil. However, the nutrients content present in the soil is insufficient to sustain plant growth.
Testing the soil solution will underestimate the nutrients content available to the plant, while measuring the total amount of nutrients in the soil will result in an overestimation of the nutrients available. This happens due to large portion of the content that strongly bounds to soil particles or available in a form which is not available to plants.
It is tough task to estimate the available nutrient levels. In the process of sampling and testing procedure, there is a loss in physical structure of the soil, and soil particles are in close contact with the chemical that is used for extracting nutrients. This close contact helps optimizes dissolution reactions, and may result in underestimate or overestimate of the nutrient content that can reach the plant roots.
It is important for you to ensure that the soil lab you choose for soil sample testing uses the apt testing methods for the sample. You may contact experienced professionals like EIE instruments who are also supplying soil lab equipments and geotechnical lab testing services to their clients. You can contact them via phone or email and ask for assistance. Their experts will respond you shortly and offer best solution for your requirement.
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