CLIMATE AND SOIL REQUIREMENT FOR HORTICULTURAL CROPS

• Soil - lt is the upper most crust of earth surface which supports plant growth
• Microbes - These are essential and survive only when soil is well aerated and rich in organic matter and devoid of waterlogged conditions
• Texture of soil depends on the size of solid particles and classified as sand, silt and clay
• Soil structure - refers to the clustering of the soil particles into characteristic aggregates of various sizes, shape and stability
• Prismatic structure - Pillar- likes with level tops
• Columnar structure - Pillar likes with rounded tops, like prismatic structure commonly occur in subsoils and in soil of arid and semi-arid region
• Blocky structure - cube-like and has more or less sharp edges and the rectangular faces are distinc
• Sub angular blocky structures - has edges with more or less rounded, like the bocky structure typical in clayey subsoils particularly in humid regions
• Platy structure - It has disc like aggregates, commonly found in virgin soil and subsoils; generally make the soil poorly drained
• Spheroidal structure - rounded aggregates which are more porous; characteristic of surface soil specially those high in organic matter content
• Granular crumb - Resemble cookie crumb; commonly found in surface horizon where roots have been growing
• Generally Loamy Soils and Crumb Structure are most preferred for fruit crops
• Soil with more than 20% organic matter is organic soil like peat and muck
• Good soil - It is one which has the capacity to nourish and sustain plant growth by providing mineral particles (nutrients) in an available form to plants by their interaction with soil air, moisture, microbes and humus
• Climate - The seasonal pattern of a particular place occurring from year to year
• Weather - A momentary state of the atmosphere brought about the combination of elements, (Example temperature, pressure, moisture content, air movements, radiation, etc.)
• Light - It comes primarily from the sun
• Temperature - Determine when and where a given type of plant can be grown
• Rainfall - Water is required for photosynthesis & normal growth of the plant if limited photosynthesis is reduced w/c lead to a reduction in plant growth and normal development of plant
• Normal wind speed in the Phil. Is 7.2 km/hr
• Relative Humidity - Amount of moisture in the atmosphere expressed as % of the amount it could hold at saturation point at the same temperature