Soil testing in the united states

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Abstract
There has been a marked change in the soil testing procedures used in the United States by state soil testing laboratories since the early 1950's. In the Coastal Plain states of the south and east, the Double Acid extraction procedure is used for P, K, Ca, and Mg determinations. Bray P1 is the most frequently used method for P extraction except for the alkaline soils of the west where the Olsen method is used. Neutral normal ammonium acetate is the most frequently used extractant for K, Ca, and Mg determinations. The Morgan extraction procedures for P, K, Ca, and Mg, commonly used in the 1950's, is used by only a few states in the northeast and west. Although similar extraction reagents are used in many sections of the United States, there is considerable variance among states regarding weighed versus volume sampling, soil to solution ratio, shaking speed and time, and extraction vessel size and shape. For soil water pH, there is little variance in method as most states are using a 1:1 soil to solution ratio. The only exception is in several western states where water pH's are read in a saturated soil paste. Considerable efforts are underway to standardize the techniques used to test soils primarily for the extractable elements.

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