THE SOIL AS A NATURAL BODY AND THE ENVIRONMENT FOR PLANTS HABITAT

• Published in: Бюллетень Почвенного института им. В.В. Докучаева no. 94; pp. 124 - 153
• Main Author: Migunova, E. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute 01-09-2018
• Subjects: agricultural production; environment; fertility; forest typology; natural body; particle size distribution; phosphorus; potassium; soil-forming rocks
• ISSN: 0136-1694; 2312-4202
• DOI: 10.19047/0136-1694-2018-94-124-153

The necessity of the doctrine for the soil as a plants habitat environment revival, which appeared in the early stages of the agriculture development, is substanti-ated. The conditions which ensure sustainable growth and high productivity of various crops were determined. First of all, we studied the specificities which determine the ability of soil to provide plants with nutrients and moisture, largely due to the composition and structure (topography) of the soil-forming rocks, their texture (due to the different mineral composition of different size particles) and therefore largely determines soil fertility. The main credo of this scientific approach is the study of soil properties in relation to plant life (P. A. Kostychev). V.V. Dokuchaev determined soils as a special natural body, which requires corresponding approach to their study, regardless of the vegetation, which cover the soil surface. Emerging on these principles, a new direction of soil science, which later obtained the name of genetic, concentrating on the study of the soil itself, moved away from the demands of agricultural produc-tion, entering into the category of academic sciences. The principles and achievements of the ecological school of forest typology, which studies soils from the position of the unity of both directions, are characterized on the basis of N.М. Sibirtsev suggestions which were described in his classification of 1895. This allowed researchers to bring into a strict system the whole diversity of forests from different natural zones, and made it possible to predict their composition and productivity. At the same time, the number and ratio of three limiting ecological resources: heat, moisture, and food — which determine the composition and productivity of vegetation and the productivity of soils — prevail in the classification. This made it possible to characterize the main regulations of the relationship between living and inorganic nature, which V.V. Dokuchaev called the essence, the core of natural science. The soil science otains the opportunity to enter on the position of the basic theoretical base of agriculture. These principles exist in the community of US soil scientists for a long time. Developing global classification constructions (approximations), American soil scientists distinguish the main taxa (soil series) at the local agricultural level by primary rocks, taking into account their availability of food, moisture, and sometimes heat.