Soil Solarization And Its Use In Agriculture
Soil Solarization
Soil solarization is a process that that helps in controlling the soil borne disease. In this process of Soil solarization, the soil is covered with plastic sheet and is exposed to sunlight.
During the exposure to sun light, the Soil solarization process utilizes the thermal energy of sun to modify and improve the soil health .
Benefits of Soil solarization
Benefits of Soil solarization can be seen as the benefits to Agriculture. The soil borne diseases are better controlled by Soil Solarization. Some of the soils borne disease are:-
- Damping off in Tomato etc
- Wilt diseases in chilli, Tomato etc
- Phytophthora disease in citrus, Guava
- Nematode diseases in citrus ,Pomegranate
- Bacterial disease- ex Potato scab- streptomyces
- Fungal diseases – Verticillium and Fusarium
Soil fumigation as an Alternative to soil solarization
Soil fumigation as an Alternative to soil solarization is also in use by the farmers. However it is important for farmers to understand the Soil fumigation and its effects .
Soil fumigation is also effective in controlling soil borne diseases. However the use of chemicals as Fumigants has many hazardous side effects. The uptake of these harmful chemical by the crop has residual effect in human food. In addition, the beneficial soil microorganism in the soil gets adversely affected
Soil solarization in profitable Agribusiness
Soil solarization in profitable agribusiness is a matter that is important for farmers to understand. Soil solarization has significant role to play in profitable agribusiness. The profit in Agribusiness depends on bringing down the input cost.
Soil solarization controls the soil borne pest and disease as an alternative to use of soil fumigation. This saves the expenditure on chemical and brings down the input cost .This helps in making a profitable Agribusiness.
