First Lab Report: Cotton

1) Soil Texture

INTRODUCTION

Soil is a material composed of five ingredients — minerals, soil organic matter, living organisms, gas, and water (Needelman, 2013). Soil performs many essential functions in almost any ecosystems, like farm, forest, marsh and so on. Soil is a natural resource, an amazing substance. Earth is unique because there is dirt on Earth, Mars and Venus do not have soil.

The texture and the distribution of mineral particles in the soil are the most important for the soil. Soil texture is an inherent soil quality property (Measuring Soil Texture in the Laboratory, 2018). The percentages of particles in these size classes is called soil texture (Needelman, 2013). Soil texture affects microbial activity by directly affecting water content and the temperature of soil (Chodak et al., 2010). The textural class is also important for soil aggregation and porosity. In addition, soil texture plays a key role in gas exchange (respiration of roots and microorganisms) between soil and atmosphere. Thus, soil texture is an important component in assessing the soil fragility to different land uses in agro-ecosystems (Dieckow et al., 2009).

Soil texture experiments can deepen the understanding of the soil and understand the ingredient in the soil for different soil seeds suitable for soil crops. This experiment can also recognize the porosity of the soil. Texture will affect the porosity, and soil porosity. Naturally, the required moisture, oxygen, nutrition and other substances are also different. Through experiments, the composition and percentage of soil can be clarified to understand the environment around the soil and whether there are many animals and microorganisms in the soil. The results of the experiment can feed back a lot of information. The texture of the soil is an important factor in determining soil improvement, management and utilization measures.

OBJECTIVES

1. To determine soil texture

2. To work out the percentage of sand, silt and clay

3. To know the field method of soil texture


MATERIAL AND APPARATUS

METHOD 1: SOIL TEXTURE BY FEEL

-Ruler

-5 types of soils

- Water

-Spatula

PROCEDURES

1. The soil was wet and kneaded until it felt like moist putty. Spatula was used to help mix the soil evenly.
2. The soil was kneaded into a ball. The ability to become a mud ball may be different depending on the type of soil.
3. The soils were used to form ribbons. The soil was placed between thumb and forefinger, the ball was then squeezed upwards to form ribbons and allow it to break.
4. The ribbon of the soil is then measured using a ruler. The result was recorded.
5. The soil was placed on the palm and the soil was wet. The soil was then rubbed to feel the soil smoothness.
6. The texture of the soil was recorded.

METHOD 2: SOIL TEXTURE BY JAR TEST

-5 types of soil samples

-5 glass jars (with lid and ring)

-Ruler (metric)

-1/2 cup measuring cup

-Masking tape and pen

-Table spoon

PROCEDURES

1. Loose soil is placed in the glass jar until it fill about 60 %– 70% of the glass jar. Water was then added into it. The glass jar was closed and taken to shake for around 5 minutes (alternately inverting the jar will suffice). The jar is then put aside and rested for 24 hours.
2. After 24 hours, the depth of settled soil was measured. This represented the depth of the soil. The jar is again shook thoroughly for 5 minutes. The jar is put aside and undisturbed for 40 seconds. The settled soil was measured with a ruler. This represented the sand layer.
3. After waiting 30 minutes, the depth of the settled soil is measured again. From this depth, the thickness of the sand layer was subtracted which was used to obtain the depth of the silt layers above it.
4. The remaining unsettled particles in suspension represented the clay fraction and can be obtained by subtracting the depths of the sand and soil layers from the total death remaining in step 2.
5. The soil triangle is referred to determine the texture class of the soil.

RESULTS

Method 1: Soil texture by feel

Ability to Form Ball

Lakeside(FSSA) soil

Mangrove soil

Lakeside (Kg. Excellent) soil

                                                                           Garden soil
                                                                               

     Beach soil

Ability to Form Ribbon

Lakeside(FSSA) soil

 Mangrove soil

Lakeside (Kg. Excellent) soil

                                       

Garden Soil

   Beach Soil

                                                                    

Table 1: Soil Texture Descriptions

Types of soil	Description
Lakeside  Soil (FSSA)	Form a ball, form a ribbon between 2.5 -5 cm and neither smooth nor gritty
Mangrove Soil	Form a ball, form a ribbon more than 2.5 –5 cm, very smooth.
Lakeside Soil (Kg. Excellent)	Form a ball, form a ribbon between more than 5 cm and neither smooth nor gritty.
Garden Soil	Form a ball, for a ribbon less than 2.5 cm and neither smooth nor gritty.
Beach Soil	Form a ball, Form a ribbon less than 2.5 cm and very gritty.

Table 2: Result of Soil Texture of Each Types of Soil

Types of soil	Soil Texture
Lakeside  Soil (FSSA)	Clay Loam
Mangrove Soil	Silty Clay Loam
Lakeside Soil (Kg. Excellent)	Clay
Garden Soil	Loam
Beach Soil	Sandy Loam

 Method 2: Soil Texture by Jar Test 

Before

From left to right: mangrove soil, lakeside (Kg. Excellent), lakeside (FSSA), Garden Soil, Beach Soil

 After 1 week
From the left to right: Lakeside Soil (FSSA), Mangrove Soil, Lakeside Soil (Kg. Excellent),Garden Soil,Beach Soil

Table 3: Height of Different Types of Soil Layer, Water and Organic Matter

Types of Soil	Soil height (mm)
	Total	Sand	Silt	Clay
Lakeside Soil (FSSA),	72	61	10	1
Mangrove Soil	90	60	15	15
Lakeside Soil          (Kg. Excellent)	85	50	10	25
Garden Soil	72	55	15	2
Beach soil	70	70	-	-

Types of Soil	Water	Organic Matter
Lakeside Soil (FSSA),	5.0 cm	0.30 cm
Mangrove Soil	2.1 cm	-
Lakeside Soil (Kg. Excellent)	5.5 cm	-
Garden Soil	4.5 cm	5.0 cm
Beach soil	3.0 cm	2.7 cm

Formula for Percentage of Sand, Silt and Clay: 

= (depth of sand or silt or clay/total depth of soil) x 100%

Table 4: Percentage of Sand, Silt and Clay in the Soil

Types of Soil	Soil Percentage (%)
	Sand	Silt	Clay
Lakeside Soil (FSSA),	84.72	13.89	1.38
Mangrove Soil	66.67	16.67	16.67
Lakeside Soil (Kg. Excellent)	58.82	11.76	34.72
Garden Soil	76.38	20.83	2.77
Beach Soil	100	-	-

Table 5: Result of Soil Texture of Each Types of Soil by Jar Test

Types of soil	Soil Texture
Lakeside Soil (FSSA)	Loamy sand
Mangrove Soil	Sandy loam
Lakeside Soil (Kg. Excellent)	Sandy clay loam
Garden Soil	Loamy sand
Beach Soil	Sand

Table 6: Comparison of Soil Texture Results of the Two Methods Used

Types of soil	Soil Texture
Method	By feel	By Jar Test
Lakeside  Soil (FSSA)	Clay Loam	Loamy Sand
Mangrove Soil	Silty Clay Loam	Sandy Loam
Lakeside Soil (Kg. Excellent)	Clay	Sandy Clay Loam
Garden Soil	Loam	Loamy Sand
Beach Soil	Sandy Loam	Sand

     DISCUSSION
  

Soil are one of the most important resource on Earth since it is a medium where plants grow and organic matter decomposed. Soils are made from rocks which go through a process called weathering and as the soil age, the soil will become more different from their parent material. Hence, variety of soils are produced which are different in colour, ability to support plant, capacity to retain water and also texture. Texture, or size distribution of mineral particles, is one of the most important measures of a soil because finely divided soil particles namely sand, silt and clay which have much greater surface area per unit mass or volume than do coarse particles.  

Sand particles are essentially small rock fragments, and as such, have little or no ability to supply grass with nutrients or to retain them against leaching. When rain or irrigation occurs the water readily penetrates the soil surface, the excess moves through rapidly and the soil remains well aerated. The particles classified as silt are intermediate in size and chemical and physical properties between clay and sand. The silt particles have limited ability to retain plant nutrients, or to release them to the soil solution for plant uptake. Clays, because of their very small size and very large surface area, are able to retain greater amounts of water than sandy soils. On the other hand, as will be discussed in a latter article, clays hold the water more closely and do not release the water as readily to grass roots as sands. Clay particles have a vastly greater tendency to stick together than sand, thus it is common farmer knowledge that soils high in clay are difficult to till (Sheard, 2005).

In the experiment, soil texture of five different types of soil from different locations were determined by using two methods which are soil texture by feel and soil texture by jar test. The five types of soil used were lakeside (FSSA) soil, mangrove soil, lakeside (KG. Excellent), garden soil and beach soil. In soil texture by feel method, the soil texture was determined by the ability of the soil to form a ball, length of ribbon formed by each soil and lastly by the grittiness as well as the smoothness of the soil. On the other hand, the second method which was the jar test that involved calculating the proportion percentage of sand, silt and clay which then these percentage was used to determine soil texture by using the Soil Textural Triangle.

As can be observed in Table 6, all the results differ in both method. by referring to the Soil Textural Triangle ,the proportion of sand, and clay can be identified.  Lakeside (FSSA) has 84.72% sand, 13.89% silt and 1.38% clay which makes it fall into loamy sand category. The mangrove soil was a sandy loam which has 66.67% sand, 16.67% silt and 16.67% clay. On the other hand, the sandy clay loam lakeside (Kg. Excellent) and loamy sand of garden soil have 58.82% sand, 11.76% loam, 34.72% clay and 76.38% sand, 20.83% silt, 2.77 % clay. Finally, the beach sand was 100% sand.

From the observation recorded throughout the experiment, the more accurate texture of soil was by using the soil texture by feel method. This was because during identification of layers of the soil, some the layers were not clear enough, so some layers is hardly observed. Thus, height of soil was not measured correctly and the soil texture results from the Soil Textural Triangle was far different from its original texture. Hence, when doing the experiment of the jar test, the soil should not be compacted, since it will reduce the rate of infiltration of water to separate the layers. It can also be conclude that the most suitable soil to plant was the garden soil, since loamy soil contains more nutrient and moisture for plant survival rate. In short, soil texture plays an important role in determining the suitability for plants and crops to grow in.

CONCLUSION

  In conclusion, soil particles consist of sand, silt and clay. Soil texture is a classification instrument used both in the field and laboratory to determine soil classes based on their physical texture. Hence, soil texture can be determined using qualitative methods such as texture by feel and another method which is the jar test. For the jar test, a formula can be used to figure out the percentage of the sand, silt and clay in the particular soil and then the percentage was referred to the Soil Textural Triangle to figure out the soil texture. It can be conclude that lakeside soil (FSSA), mangrove soil, lakeside soil (Kg. Excellent), garden Soil and beach soil have soil texture of clay loam, silty clay loam ,clay, loam and sandy loam respectively  according to soil texture by feel method since it is more accurate. Hence, the most suitable soil medium for cotton would be loam, the garden soil.

REFERENCES

Chodak, M., & Niklińska, M. (2010). Effect of texture and tree species on microbial properties of mine soils. Applied Soil Ecology, 46(2), pp. 268-275.

Dieckow, J., Bayer, C., Conceição, P.C., Zanatta, J.A., Martin-Neto, L., Milori, D.B.M., Salton, J.C., MacEdo, M.M., Mielniczuk, J., & Hernani, L.C. (2009). Land use, tillage, texture and organic matter stock and composition in tropical and subtropical Brazilian soils. European Journal of Soil Science, 60(2), pp. 240-249

Measuring Soil Texture in the Laboratory. (2018). Retrieved from http://soilquality.org.au/factsheets/soil-texture-measuring-in-the-lab

Needelman, B. A. (2013). What Are Soils? Nature Education Knowledge 4(3), 2.

Sheard, R.W. Sports Turf Association (Guelph, Ont.). 2005. Understanding Turf Management. Sports Turf Association, pp. 4 – 6. 

2) Soil Colour Analysis

INTRODUCTION

          Colour is one of the obvious characteristics of soil among the other characteristics. Colour of the soil also provide a valuable insight into the soil environment. However, not all soil is actually the same soil. It is because colour can be a key property in soil interpretation. Soils can differ widely from location to location. The topsoil of the soil is not reflect the entire soil. The topsoil usually darker than lower layers because this is where organic matter and minerals accumulates. It depends on organic matter and mineral content and is influenced by drainage.

The main three colours in a well-drained soils are red, black and white. Red indicates from iron and aluminium oxides, while black indicate from type of organic matter and white indicates from silicates and salts. There are three main factors influence the colour of a soil which are organic matter content, drainage conditions and the degree of oxidation which also known as type of mineral. Besides, it does provide clues about certain conditions.

There are some colours shows the soil well aerated conditions such as red, brown and yellow whereas poorly aerated conditions are grey and blue. The characteristics of soil which is good aeration because of the iron is oxidised (Fe+++). Also the soils are bright in colours which are yellow, browns and red. Whereas, the soil which is poor aeration is because of the iron is reduced (Fe++). Usually the soils are in dull colours which are greys and blue.

The function of soil colour is to distinguish the boundaries within a soil profile. Next, it also determine the origin of a soil’s parent material. Moreover, the soil colour is an indication of wetness and waterlogged conditions. It is also qualitative method in measuring organic, salt and carbonate contents of the soils.

          Soil colour of a selection of soil samples that used for cotton plant can be described by using the Munsell Color Charts. It can be useful in determining the years of the sample soil. It also useful for rating organic content in mineral soil. This charts separating the color shade components that relative to yellow, red, blue, green and grey. Next, it also shows the value from lightness to darkness, and chroma indicates the intensity or strength of the soil color. From the color of a soil sample, three parameters can be identified which are hue, value and chroma. The right hand top corner represents the hue, while the vertical axis represents the value and the horizontal axis represents the chroma.

APPARATUS AND MATERIALS 

- Cotton seeds

- 5 different types of soil

- Spray bottle contain with water

- Munsell Color Chart

PROCEDURES

1.       Collect five different types of soil from different locations.

2.       Select the soil sample to be described.

3.       Break it down the soil so that it have a uniform color in your hand.

4.       The soil is sprayed with water to make the soil wet enough. This is to ensure that

          the colour of the soil does not change.

5.       The colour of the soil sample is determined by using the Munsell Color Chart.

6.       Light source is important to make sure the accurate colour and also to avoid

          shadow getting in the way.

7.       The hue of the soil sample is determined by comparison with pages in the Munsell

          Color Chart.

8.       The soils’s colour with the color chips is compared until it find the best match

          possible.

9.       The Munsell colour notation of hue is recorded.

10.     Steps 1 to 9 are repeated for value and chroma.

RESULT

Types of Soil Sample	Hue	Value	Chroma	Munsell	Colour
Soil Sample 1 (Kinabalu Homestay)	2.5 YR	3	3	2.5YR/3/3	Dark Brown
Soil Sample 2 (Likas Mangrove)	7.5 YR	2.5	1	7.5Y/2.5/1	Black
Soil Sample 3 (Tasik Kampung E)	10.0 YR	3	3	10.0YR/3/3	Brown
Soil Sample 4 (ODEC)	2.5 YR	6	1	2.5YR//6/1	Grey
Soil Sample 5 (FSSA)	10.0 YR	4	6	10.0YR/4/6	Yellow - Brown

Soil Sample 1

Soil Sample 2

Soil Sample 3

Soil Sample 4

Soil Sample 5

DISCUSSION

From the results taken, colours of the soil are taken using the Munsell Systems of Colour Notation. The Munsell System is used to compare soils anywhere. Each soil colour tells its own soil types and characteristics. There are four main factors that influence soil colour which are the parent material, organic matter, moisture content, and the nature and abundance of iron. The three main pigments due to soil colour are black, red, and white. Black colour soil usually comes from organic matter. The red colour is usually from the alteration of clay minerals. The clay minerals release iron oxides and aluminium like hematite(Fe₂O₃). Red soil develops in temperate, warm and moist climate which explains why it is present in Malaysia. Red soils have low nutrients and it has low water holding capacity. This makes it hard to cultivate the land with red soil. White soils are made from silicates, magnesium carbonates, gypsum and more soluble salts. Patterns such as nodules, fine powder or films on soil aggragates are from carbonates that shows discontinuous and continuous patterns. White crust surface are formed by sodium chloride (NaCl), a soluble salt.
From the experiment, there were four different colours of soils that were collected which were dark brown, black, brown, grey, and yellow-brown. Organic matter are present in dark or black soil colour. The darker the surface horizon it means that there are more organic matter content assumed. The highest content of organic matter from the experiment is assumed to be black soil as it is the darkest. The second highest content would be dark brown and last would be brown soil colour. The typical management implications for black or dark soils are waterlogging or drainage problems, high denitrification, and workability and tillage problems. Brown soils do not actually have low amounts of organic matter but moderate levels of iron oxides and organic matter.

 Grey soils have very poor drainage and waterlogging. Soils that are grey have lack of air which gives conditions for manganese and iron to produce compounds that bring out grey colour. High denitrification, methane emission hazard and waterlogging drainage problems are the typical management implications for grey soils. Yellow to yellow-brown soils have lower drainage that red soils. This soil colour may be due to the presence of goethite. Goethite is a dark or yellowish-brown iron bearing hydroxide mineral. Yellow to yellow-brown soils are bound to clay and organic matter.

CONCLUSION

Based on this experiment, shows that each different colour of the soil indicates the condition of the soil which is good or poor condition for planting plant. According to the result of the experiment, each colour may be varied due to organic matter content, mineral matter from the constituent parent material, the nature and abundance of iron and moisture content. The more organic matter, the more suitable for planting as organic matter is very important in the nutrient supply. By using Munsell chart, the colour of the soil can be determined more effectively as to know which approximate colour of the soil.

 REFERENCES

Jordan, A. (2014, March 30). The Colour of Soil. Retrieved from https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/sss/2014/03/30/soil-color-never-lies/

             

Soil Colour. (2017, November 5). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_color#Classification

Soil Colour. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/land/soil/soil-properties/colour