The Role of Clays in Agriculture

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  • WATANABE Yutaka
    Department of Soils and Fertilizers, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences

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  • 農業と粘土
  • ノウギョウ ト ネンド

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Abstract

If the world population continues to rise upward at the rate of 2% a year from the present population of 4 billion, the world agriculture must product food for 6.2 billion persons in the year 2000. To do so, it needs to increase the food production of the global land by developing as farm land the whole of the arable land. However, the global land resource for food production is limited. Therefore, the food production increase cannot but depend on the productivity increase of soil besides the varietal improvement of food and feed crops. The productivity of soil is influenced by both mineral composition and content of the clayfraction in soil. In general, the soil rich in smectite isfertile while the soil abundant in 1: 1 minerals and/or sesquioxides low-productive. Desert soil is very unproductive owing to the scanty amount of clay fraction. The environmental quality of soil is controlled also by the working of the clayfraction in soil.<BR>At present time, the soil dterioration caused by' desertification' is progressing in the rate of 6 million ha a year in the global land. The desertification is fundamentally the loss of clay fraction from the land surface by wind-and water-erosion. Thus, if the human race is to survive in the 21st century, it is indispensable to conserve and improve the soil of farm land from the viewpoint of clay science as well as soil science.

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