Soil grading: what is grading, its main purpose and indicators

Soil appraisal is a comparative characteristic of the quality of agricultural land. For this purpose, special soil surveys are carried out and the corresponding points are put down. The procedure is carried out for land valuation, land reclamation, land cadastre and other tasks. With the help of soil quality, it is possible to predict the yield of plants. It is also used to assess the value of land, determine the amount of taxes and rent.

What is soil booting?

This term is understood as the definition of fertility. Grading is a comparative assessment of soils in points according to the main agronomic characteristics.The procedure is carried out for the economic characteristics of land. Bonitet is also needed to address pricing issues, maintain a land cadastre, and improve farming systems.

Most often, appraisal is used for on-farm evaluation of land in terms of production and technological characteristics. The first group includes the productivity of plants and the productivity of fodder lands, the second - relief, remoteness, rockiness, energy intensity. Also, the procedure is aimed at assessing land for the cost of growing cultivated plants and determining the cost effectiveness.

In addition to the qualitative parameters that are used to assess soil fertility, it is recommended to take into account other conditions. They are very important in agriculture. These parameters include relief, moisture, microclimate.

Soil assessment is expressed in generalized parameters - points. As a rule, ground survey materials are used as a basis. They reflect the mechanical composition of the soil, the humus content in it, acidity parameters, important physical characteristics.

Main goal

The key goals of appraisal are accounting and grouping of soils according to natural characteristics and fertility. At the same time, an assessment is made of soil productivity for cultivation for different plants, improving agricultural production and specialization. Each type of soil is characterized by a certain bonitet, or quality indicators, productivity, quality factor.

Specialists identify the following purposes of appraisal:

comparison and grouping of soils and lands by productivity, i.e. fertility;
identifying the most favorable lands for different crops;
production assessment of a country, region or a particular farm;
objective assessment taking into account soil and climatic conditions with the result of economic activity and identification of production resources;
assisting sustainable farming systems;
help in the correct preparation of measures to increase the fertility and yield parameters of cultivated plants in different types of soil.

Boot Criteria

The main indicator by which land is evaluated is fertility. It can be natural, artificial, economic, potential. Relative and effective fertility are also distinguished.

As a grading criterion it is important to use those parameters that directly characterize fertility. This term is understood as the ability of soils to provide plants with all the necessary nutrients and create favorable conditions for their growth.

The main parameters used to characterize soil fertility include humus reserves and the thickness of the humus horizon.At the same time, the soil may have favorable physical properties and contain the required amount of moisture, but if there are negative characteristics, its productivity will decrease. The negative properties include salinity, acidity, alkalinity.

The main soil grading criteria in use today include the following:

thickness of the humus horizon;
humus reserves;
physical clay content;
density;
physical characteristics;
minimum moisture capacity;
porosity of aeration;
active moisture range.

Preparation

At the stage of preparation for grading, it is required to draw up republican and regional grading scales. In this case, objective parameters and characteristics of the soil are used. Soil scientists are involved in compiling such documents. In doing so, it is important to use statistical data.

When compiling grading scales for soil characteristics and parameters of its productivity, the following types of information are used:

Soil map, large-scale soil surveys of farms, soil reports with analytics, land area tables.
Climatic data including long-term average temperature, average annual precipitation, frost-free period.
Materials on state registration of land users.
Literature information regarding the evaluation of the region's land.
Annual reports of collective farms and state farms for 5 years.
Information on long-term yields in plots with different soil types.

Techniques

Recently, soil-ecological assessment has been predominantly used. It helps to determine indicators and put down points for different sites and at any level. To do this, use the following parameters:

soil indices - they are calculated taking into account washout, gravel, deflation;
average humus content;
agrochemical parameters - these include indicators of soil acidity, coefficients of nutrient content;
climatic indicators - the sum of temperatures, humidity coefficients.

Then the final parameters are calculated - climatic, soil, agrochemical. After that, a final assessment is carried out, which includes the determination of the soil-ecological index.

Soil grading is considered an informative technique that helps to assess soil fertility. Thanks to the determination of the main indicators, it is possible to predict the yield of plants and determine the value of the land.