What causes soil compaction in orchard soil?

The growth and development of fruit trees requires a good soil environment, but in orchard management, soil compaction often occurs, causing yellowing and falling of leaves in various fruit trees, seriously affecting the yield of fruit trees and bringing serious losses to fruit growers. So what causes soil compaction in orchard soil? Let's take a look.

1. Soil texture is too clayey

When the orchard soil is too clayey, the clay particles in the clay soil are relatively abundant, and on top of that the plow layer is usually relatively shallow, so there are fewer capillary pores in the soil and air permeability, water permeability and warming properties are relatively poor. After rain or irrigation, the pores are easily clogged, so it is very easy to cause crusting of the soil surface. This is soil compaction.

2. Insufficient organic matter content

If the organic matter in the soil is not replenished in time, the low organic matter content of the soil will lead to deterioration of soil structure and affect the activity of microorganisms, thereby affecting the formation of soil aggregate structure, causing the soil acidity or alkalinity to be too high or too low, and leading to soil compaction.

If chemical fertilizers are applied for a long time during fertilization and no organic fertilizer is applied, the organic matter content of the soil will continuously decline, humus cannot be replenished, and soil compaction and cracking will result. This is the main cause of orchard soil compaction. Nitrogen fertilizer can promote plant growth, phosphorus fertilizer can promote root development, and potassium fertilizer can promote yield increases, so many fruit growers blindly apply them when fertilizing. This will seriously destroy the soil aggregate structure and affect the activity of microorganisms, thereby preventing the formation of soil aggregate structure and causing soil compaction.

4. Farming operations damage soil structure

Because mechanical tillage destroys the soil aggregate structure, and only a small part of the fertilizer applied each year is absorbed by the fruit trees, most of the fertilizer is fixed by the soil, resulting in the deposition of large amounts of acid salts and causing soil compaction.

5. Accumulation of harmful substances and soil erosion

In some areas, groundwater and industrial wastewater contain large amounts of toxic substances. Some fruit growers irrigate with this water for a long time, and over time, excessive accumulation of toxic substances in the soil causes soil compaction. In addition, after windblown sand and heavy rain, fine soil particles in the surface layer are carried away, damaging the soil structure and causing soil compaction.

  The above is an introduction to how orchard soil compaction is caused. We hope it can help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please follow us.