Laboratory Guide For Conducting Soil Tests And Plant Analysis
by
J. Benton Jones, Jr.
CRC Press 2001
ISBN 0-8493-0206-4 (alk. paper)
Soil analysis (frequently referred to as soil testing) and plant (leaf) analysis
(including tissue testing) play major roles in crop production decision making,
providing the means for assessing the nutrient element status of the
soil/crop environment, and establishing the basis for making lime and fertilizer
recommendations. These analyses are also used for diagnosing nutrient
element–caused stress by identifying the element(s) involved, forming the
basis for supplemental applications of elements needed to correct uncovered
or confirmed insufficiencies. More recently, soil analysis is becoming a major
technique for measuring the impact soil characteristics and amendments will
have on environmental water quality issues. Soil fertility and plant nutrition
research requires the use of standard methods of analysis to generate reliable
analytical data that can be universally interpreted by the scientific community.
This laboratory guide provides some historical background for the assay
methods more commonly in use today, describing the basis and range of
application, plus the requirements for conducting the test. Although not an
all-inclusive text on the subject, the techniques for sampling, sample preparation,
and laboratory analysis of soil and plant tissue, including some of
the more commonly used instrumental methods of analysis, analytical procedures
for determining the physical and chemical composition of soils and
the elemental content of plant tissues, are described in some detail. Related
interpretative data and basic concepts of soil and plant nutrition are also given.
This laboratory guide is designed (1) for instruction in soil and plant
analysis procedures, (2) for use by growers, crop consultants, county agents,
etc., who rely on soil and plant analysis data for managing the nutrient
element status of soils and crops, and (3) for use by the scientific community
that requires and relies on soil/plant analysis data in research.
The Author
J. Benton Jones, Jr., Ph.D.,
is Professor Emeritus at the University of
Georgia (UGA), retiring from the university in 1989 after completing 21
years of service plus 10 years as Professor of Agronomy at the Ohio Agricultural
Research and Development Center (OARDC). While at the OARDC,
he established the Ohio Plant Analysis Laboratory, the first of its kind
providing analytical and interpretative services dealing primarily with agronomic
crops. In September 1968, Dr. Jones accepted a position with the
UGA, supervising the construction of the Georgia Soil Testing and Plant
Analysis Laboratory in Athens, serving as its first director until 1974, when
he became Division Chairman and Head of the Division and Department of
Horticulture. During that time, he assisted the UGA Institute of Ecology in
its establishment of an analytical laboratory, the first to employ a new
instrumental procedure that is widely used today.
Dr. Jones has written extensively on analytical methods and has developed
a number of analytical procedures for the assay of soil and plant tissue,
as well as techniques for the interpretation of soil and plant analyses for
their application in crop production decision making.
Dr. Jones was the first president and then served until 1998 as secretarytreasurer
of the Soil and Plant Analysis Council, a scientific society that was
founded in 1969. He is an author of more than 200 scientific articles and 15
book chapters, and has written five books. He established two international
journals,
Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis,
serving as its
editor for 24 years, and the
Journal of Plant Nutrition,
serving as its editor for
19 years.
Dr. Jones received his B.S. degree in agricultural science from the University
of Illinois in 1952 and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in agronomy from
Pennsylvania State University in 1956 and 1959, respectively. He has traveled
widely with consultancies in the Soviet Union, China, Taiwan, South Korea,
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Costa Rica, Cape Verde, India, Hungary, Kuwait, and
Indonesia.
Dr. Jones has received many awards and recognitions for his service to
the science of soil testing and plant analysis. He is a Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Agronomy,
and the Soil Science Society of America. An award in his honor, the
“J. Benton Jones, Jr. Award,” was established in 1989 by the Soil and Plant
Analysis Council. Dr. Jones received an Honorary Doctorate from the University
of Horticulture, Budapest, Hungary. He is a member of three honorary
societies, Sigma Xi, Gamma Sigma Delta, and Phi Kappa Phi, and he is
listed in
Who’s Who in America
as well as in a number of other similar
biographical listings.
Dr. Jones currently resides in Anderson, South Carolina, is still writing
and advising growers, and is experimenting with various hydroponic growing
systems for use in the field and greenhouse.
