Soil porosity

 Soil porosity

Is the space between particles called pore space, it refers to how many pores, holes, a soil has. May be formed due to the movement of roots, warms and insects; expanding gases trapped within these spaces by ground water; and/or the dissolution of the soil parent materials.

Factors that affect the porosity of the soil

• Soil structure - a soil having granular and crumbs structure contains more pore spaces than that of prismatic and platy soil structure. 
• Soil texture - in sandy soils the pore space is small whereas, in fine textured clay and clayey loam soil total pore space is high and there is a possibility of more granulation in clay soil.
• Arrangement of soil particles - when the sphere-like particles in arrangement in columnar form, it results in low amount of pore spaces.
• Macro-organism macro-organisms like Earth worm, insects etc, increase macro-pore in the soil.
• Organic matter soil containing high organic matter possesses high porosity because of well aggregate formation.