Improve Your Understanding and Management of Agricultural Soils
Many farms have increased productivity and sustainability by focusing on soil improvement. Better soils grow better crops and better pastures, improving the overall the long-term viability of farming.
This course gives you a fundamental understanding of soil science and the knowledge to start improving soils on any farm.
Without a good soil, everything else on a farm may well fail.
Course Duration: 100 hours
Course Structure
There are eight lessons in this course.
1. Physical and Chemical Properties of Soils
- Understanding Soils
- Naming the soil
- What is pH?
- Nutrient Availability and pH
- Cation exchange capacity
- Salinity build-up
- How soils develop naturally
- Chemical weathering
- Minerals and Rocks
- Types of Rock
- Understanding compost
- Indore method
- 14 day method
- Sheet composting
- Worm digester method
- Trench composting
- Improving soils
- Organic matter
- Nutrition
- Terminology
2. Soil Test Methods
- Soil sampling
- Common Soil Tests
- Soil Characteristics
- Determining bulk density
- Drainage rate
- Measuring pH
- Measuring salinity
- Conductivity and plants
- Water content of soil
- Affect of Lime on Soil
- Laboratory Testing of Soils
- Understanding Soil analysis
- Deciding when and how to test
- Terminology
3. Sustainable Soil Management
- Organic growing
- Use of organic principles to help overcome soil problems
- Natural plant nutrition
- Organic fertilisers
- Earthworms
- Mycorrhizae
- Vesicular-Arbuscular Mycorrhiza
- Producing VAM inoculum
- Mulch
- Natural Fertilisers
- Mineral rock fertilisers and soil conditioners
- Earthworms
4. Soils and Managing Earthworks
- Earth forming
- Drainage
- Improving Drainage
- Improving infiltration of water
- Improving surface drainage after construction
- Provision of sub-surface drains
- Layout of drains
- Outlet
- Gradients
- Depth of drains
- Types of drains
- Surface drainage
- Terminology
5. Land Degradation and Other Soil Problems
- What can go wrong
- Chemical damage
- Builders rubbish and soils
- Salinity
- Overcoming salinity
- Overcoming dry soils
- Types of soil degradation
- Erosion - water and wind
- Loss of soil fertility
- Compaction
- Soil Acidification
- Physical plant protection
- Terminology
6. Container Growing
- Grass and green forage growing
- Forage production units (grass incubators)
- Using pots as containers
- Comparing container materials
- Soil cleanliness
- Potting up plants
- Nutrition Management for Container plants
- Factors affecting fertiliser application
7. Soil Science and Health
- Organic carbon
- Available phosphorus
- Soil colour
- Texture and its effect on Plant Growth
- Structure and its affect on Plant Growth
- Consistency and its effect on Plant Growth
- Depth Profile and how it relates to Plant Growth
- pH and its effect on plant growth
- Porosity and how it relates to plant growth
- Profile description - horizons
- Soil classification and Description
- Key properties of a selection of different soil groups
- Factors in soil Formation
- Climate, biosphere, topography,time, organisms and relief
- Weathering processes - Physical, Chemical and Geo-chemical
8. Soil Management
- Nitrogen fixation with legumes
- The Rhizobium bacteria
- Main types of legumes used in agriculture
- Soil Management in Orchards
- Fertiliser applications
- Soil covers
- Soil management in market gardens
- Crop rotation
- Fertilisers
- Soil Management for vegetables
Enrol Today
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WHY CHOOSE US?
Reputation: well-known and respected.
Industry focus: courses designed to suit industry needs and expectations.
Different focus: develop problem solving skills that make you stand out from others.
Hands-on: develop practical as well as theoretical skills.
Lots of help: dedicated and knowledgeable tutors.
Efficient: prompt responses to your questions.
A long track record: established in 1979 with a solid history.
Up to date: courses under constant review.
Resources: huge wealth of constantly developing intellectual property.
Value: courses compare very favourably on a cost per study hour basis.
Student amenities: online student room, bookshop, ebooks.
