Index >> Microbes and Lithosphere>> Importance of Soil Texture

Importance of soil texture
Capacity of soils to store water and nutrients increases when their clay percentage increases since clay has a large surface area/unit volume and they can absorb large amounts of nutrients and water. A soil with sandy texture has difficulty in retaining water and thus nutrients are not made available to the plants growing in such a soil. A clayey soil is poorer in aeration (due to stagnation of water) thus debilitating the plant growth. Loamy soil (a mixture of clay and sand) is the best textured soil for crop cultivation since it has all the beneficial aspects not found in the sandy and clayey soil. Thus we can see how texture affects the plant growth.