Definition And Meaning Of Soil Coquation And Vegitions

SOIL COMPOSITION AND VEGETATION

A. Definition and Meaning of Soil

Soil can be simply defined as a mixture of small rock particles/debris and organic materials/ humus which develop on the earth surface and support growth of plants.

The soil is a natural body of weathered minerals and organic matter differentiated into horizons of variable depth which differ from the material above and below in terms of their physical make-up, chemical composition and biological character. Soil is actually an integration of water, air, minerals and organic matter the soil as a vital part of the earth’s physical landscape.

There is no uniform depth to our earth’s soils. While it can be absent in places of exposed bedrock, soil may extend up to tens of meters

The livestock sector is socially and politically very significant in developing countries: it provides food and income for one billion of the world’s poor.

h) About 20 percent of the world’s pastures and rangelands, with more than 70 percent of the rangelands in dry areas, have been degraded to some extent.

The properties of soils (texture, structure, depth, nutrient status, etc.) has a major influence over which species become established and grow on the structure and floristic of the vegetation at any site. Soils and vegetation are also theoretically dependent on the same independent factors: parent material, topography, climate, organism-availability and time.

Numerous studies have failed to show consistent relationship between soils and vegetation. However, a review of basic concepts of soil and vegetation development indicates that vegetation and soils are mutually associated with each other, both being the product of the same environmental variables. The mutual association is between the whole soil and vegetation, not individual soil properties and vegetation or selected attributes of vegetation. Conceptually, each habitat type is associated with a unique set of soil