Page 14 - Ilmu Tanah

The Chemistry and Fertility of Soils under Tropical Weeds 1

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 The General Chemistry of Soils
1.2 Weed Effects on the Chemistry and Fertility of Soils
1.3 Scope of The Chemistry and Fertility of Soils under Tropical Weeds
Key Questions

I
t is well known that weeds are very distinct due to some of their characteristics
in the soil environment. In addition to the fact that they are destructive to
crops, and therefore they are undesirable in cultivated land, weeds are more
importantly very competitive. Their competitiveness does not only physically and
biologically but also chemically affect the soil environment. There are a great deal
of researches reporting the effects of weeds on soil chemical and fertility
properties such as soil pH (Salam et al., 1997a; 1997b; 1997e; 2018; Ontia, 2018),
soil cation exchange capacity (Sembodo et al., 2012; 2017), soil organic C or organic
matter contents (Sembodo et al., 2012; 2017), soil total N (Sembodo et al., 2012;
2017), soil P (Sembodo et al., 2012; 2017), and soil S, soil exchangeable K (Salam et
Abdul Kadir Salam and Nanik Sriyani – 2019