What importance does permeability have on the fertility of soil?
Permeability will influence fertility in a number of ways: 1. A highly permeable soil will allow the immobile nutrients- nitrate, sulfate, borate, etc to move readily through the soil. As a result, some of these nutrients may be leached below the rooting zone of plants. 2. Availability of nutrients applied to the soil surface may be enhanced on permeable soils by the movement of the ions down into the rooting zone. Seldom is positional availability a problem, but in some dry seasons, we have observed that surface application of N is not effective if there is not adequate moisture to move it down into the rooting zone. 3. A highly permeable soil will allow moisture to move into the profile for plant use. As long as rains come in small amounts, this water will be effectively used. On relatively impermeable soils, runoff and associated erosion may be enhanced.
