What Does Organic Matter (OM) Do In Soil?

Of all the components in soil, organic matter is probably the most important and most misunderstood. OM is a soil amendment that improves the physical, chemical and Biological properties of soil. OM serves as a reservoir of nutrients and water in the soil, it aids in reducing compaction and surface crusting and increases water infiltration into the soil and as such the water reaches in the plants through its roots. In other words it is a sponge that holds water, nutrients and air and keeps it available around the roots for absorption.

How Much Organic Matter Is in the Soil?

One Square Foot of soil measured to a depth of 6 inches weighs approximately 21 Kg (2,000,000 lbs per acre) which means that 1 percent OM in the soil would weigh about 210 grams per Square Ft. (20,000 lbs or about 9metric Ton per acre)

There is different qty of OM in soil at different area so ideally soil tests should be conducted to find out how much organic matter your soil has. If the soil test of nearby areas is available it may be assumed that the OM of your soil may be similar.

What Are the Benefits of Organic Matter?

• Nutrient Supply Organic matter is a reservoir of nutrients (N.P.K) that can be released to the soil.
• Water-Holding Capacity Organic matter behaves somewhat like a sponge, with the ability to absorb and hold up to 90 percent of its weight in water. A great advantage of the water-holding capacity of organic matter is that it will release most of the water that is absorbed by the plants. In contrast, clay holds great quantities of water, but much of it is unavailable to plants. Sufficient organic matter in soil will also require lesser watering frequency
• Soil Structure Aggregation Organic matter causes soil to clump and form soil aggregates, which improves soil structure. With better soil structure, improves permeability (infiltration of water through the soil) , in turn improving the soil's ability to take up and hold water.
• Promotes root growth: OM softens the soil enabling easier root penetration and faster root growth
• Maintenance of stable soil pH: Soil organic matter moderates the major changes in the soil pH by binding or releasing cations. This helps to keep soil pH in the neutral range (pH: 7-8), which is optimum for most garden and landscape plants.
• Erosion Prevention This property of organic matter is not widely known. Data used in the universal soil loss equation indicate that increasing soil organic matter from 1 to 3 percent can reduce erosion 20 to 33 percent because of increased water infiltration and stable soil aggregate formation caused by organic matter.

Using Raw Gobar (Cow Dung) or Khad in Plants, grass etc can be hazardous as follows.

• Cow dung contains several organism that are soil friendly and beneficial as well as some organisms like Salmonella and E.Coli that are extremely hazardous as children playing in the garden or anybody walking in the house from the garden can carry these bacteria and can contaminate the drinking water, food etc. Even the Khad that we use in our gardens is not sufficiently aged/ composted and it carries these hazardous organism. On the other hand the properly composted or Anaerobic digested Organic matter does not contain these hazardous organism. In the same way using Gobar or Khad in edible crops contaminate them with these hazardous organism.
• Fresh cow Manure and Khad are carriers of termite which can move from the garden to the wooden doors, windows and furniture in the house.
• Fresh manure or Khad often contains grass and weed seeds that can cause havoc with your prepared grass beds when spread. Finally, the ammonia in fresh manure can cause strange growth patterns and "burn" delicate plant roots.