Determining Fertility Status (Essay Sample)

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Determining Fertility Status in the Çanakkale–Lapseki Agricultural Areas of Turkey
What was the model/study organism
The model of the study is organism because the experiment aims to find out the fertility level in terms of pH (potential hydrogen), calcium, and potassium.
What is one piece of interesting information found in the Introduction?
Soil fertility refers to the capacity of soil to supply essential nutrients to plants and soil water in adequate proportions that will support plant growth and reproduction. Hence, the procedure is carried out to determine the major soil components, which include mineral particles, organic materials, soil water, soil air and living organisms that include bacteria that help in decomposition (Demirera, Kaleliw, and Kuzucuc 487). In this regard, determination of soil fertility provides useful information to the farmers on the type crops to grow. This research paper reflects on soil fertility in the agricultural land of Turkey between Umurbey and Lapseki to determine these key components. This is because despite high agricultural production, Turkey still faces starvation to date.
What is the major question and/or hypothesis studied in the journal article?
The major hypothesis is that Soils with pH and calcium carbonate favor agriculture. In addition, soils with enough potassium are god for agricultural use. The last question relates to the fact that applying fertilizers rich in iron and zinc can help to improve the fertility of a land
How did the researchers sample for the study; what are the variables
This research was carried out in an area covering 6.6% of Canakkale agricultural land. The total annual rainfall in the area is 622mm while the temperature is over 200Celcius.The soil parent materials are sandstones, siltstones, dendriticlimestones and nesifols. For the purpose of study, a total of 246 samples were taken from 0-30 to 30-60 cm depths which was done randomly.
What experiments were used to gather evidence in the study?
A table of comparison was then made to correlate between the various soil properties to get meaningful results. It was found that most soils were classified as sandy loams (33%) loam was found to take 3.3 % while loamy sand and sandy clay loams took up the remaining 25%. This indicated that most soils are loamy in structure. At both depths, the soil pH was classified as mostly alkaline with a few sample-indicating traces of acidity. Organic matter was classified majorly as low with a few samples showing moderate levels averaging to 3-4%. This was an indication that most of the region had sufficient organic matter. 40% of soils at both depts. Indicated less level of calcium at less than 1% .This indicated the need for acidification by use of commercial fertilizers to balance the calcareous content (Demirera, Kaleliw, and Kuzucuc 490). The experiments were determined as follows
the particle size of each sample was determined by use of a hydrometer,
pH by use of pH meter,
calcium carbonate percentage (CaCO3%) by use of Schebler calcimeter,
organic matter by the Walkley-Black method,
potassium and sodium by the 1N ammonium acetate,
phosphorous by the Olsen method and,
Cu, Zn and Mn by use of AAs equipment.
Describe the evidence that was used to answer the question / evidence that supported or refuted the hypothesis?
Exchangeable sodium was classed as low, but in depths of below 30cm, it was found to be high as a result cation exchange capacity did not vary with depth. Similarly, available phosphorous w...