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THE VALUE OF SOIL TESTS IN NEW MEXICO
H, E. Dregne and J, E. Chapman
The main purpose of most soil testing is to obtain enough information about
the amount of available plant food in the soil to allow fertilizer recommendations
to be made.
But soil testing at best is only an aid in determining fertilizer requirements.
The value of the soil test depends upon many things, 3uch as the experience of the
man making the recommendations, the information that he has about the need for
fertilizer of the soil being tested, whether or not the soil sample truly represents
the field in question, the kind of test solution being used, the physical conditions
of the soil, the correlation of previous test results with field fertilizer trials,
the crop to be grown, and soil drainage.
All agronomists would like to be able to use soil tests as a basis for writing
"prescriptions'1 for soils just as a physician does when a person is 111. We are
working toward the day when that can be done, but it isn't here yet. One reason
we can't writ, pr.scriptions for fertilizers by using the soil tests is that nobody has yet devised a test that tells whether or not the soil is well drained.
Every farmer knows that he can't grow good alfalfa if water stands on his fields
for several days at a time. If that is the situation, the fertility level of his
soil is of little importance. Applying fertilizer to such a field would be a
waste of money, regardless of what the soil test showed.
Before soil tests can be successful, extensive research must be done in the
correlation of results from field fertilizer experiments and soil testing. In the
Middle West, East, and South, several states test soil extensively, and the tests
are apparently of much value in making fertilizer recommendations. If soil testing
NMSU Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station Publications
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The value of soil tests in New Mexico
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o_^
THE VALUE OF SOIL TESTS IN NEW MEXICO
H, E. Dregne and J, E. Chapman
The main purpose of most soil testing is to obtain enough information about
the amount of available plant food in the soil to allow fertilizer recommendations
to be made.
But soil testing at best is only an aid in determining fertilizer requirements.
The value of the soil test depends upon many things, 3uch as the experience of the
man making the recommendations, the information that he has about the need for
fertilizer of the soil being tested, whether or not the soil sample truly represents
the field in question, the kind of test solution being used, the physical conditions
of the soil, the correlation of previous test results with field fertilizer trials,
the crop to be grown, and soil drainage.
All agronomists would like to be able to use soil tests as a basis for writing
"prescriptions'1 for soils just as a physician does when a person is 111. We are
working toward the day when that can be done, but it isn't here yet. One reason
we can't writ, pr.scriptions for fertilizers by using the soil tests is that nobody has yet devised a test that tells whether or not the soil is well drained.
Every farmer knows that he can't grow good alfalfa if water stands on his fields
for several days at a time. If that is the situation, the fertility level of his
soil is of little importance. Applying fertilizer to such a field would be a
waste of money, regardless of what the soil test showed.
Before soil tests can be successful, extensive research must be done in the
correlation of results from field fertilizer experiments and soil testing. In the
Middle West, East, and South, several states test soil extensively, and the tests
are apparently of much value in making fertilizer recommendations. If soil testing
