Soil Lab

Soil, Water, Plant Testing Lab

Soil, water, plant and fertilizer testing lab of Anahita, officially licensed by Iran`s Agriculture & Natural Resources Engineering Organization and with an official certificate of analyzing the chemical and organic fertilizers from Iran`s Soil & Water Research Organization and equipped by the most modern laboratory devices and the most experienced experts of soil science, is ready to represent the following services to applicants:

Soil Analyses:

Determination of soil EC, pH, content of organic matter (% OM), CaCO₃ (%), soil moisture, gypsum, soil texture, soil particle size, phosphorous (soluble, available and total), sulfite and boron by Spectrophotometer, sodium, potassium and calcium (soluble, available and total) by Flamephotometer, nitrogen (NO₃^-, NH₄⁺ and total), and important anions and cations (sulfate, carbonate, bicarbonate, Cl^-, Mg⁺², etc).

Water Analyses:

Determination of water EC, pH, important anions and cations (sulfate, carbonate, bicarbonate, Cl^-, Mg⁺², etc), nitrate and phosphate, alkalinity, total soluble salts (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), etc.

Plant Analyses (leaf, fruit, and seed):

Determination of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur and all of the micronutrients (Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, Mo …) in plant, and determination of nitrate concentration in fruits.

Analyzing the various chemical and organic fertilizers:

Complete analysis of the nitrogen fertilizers, determination of various species of phosphorous, potassium content, sulfur percent, humic acid, micronutrients, evaluation of the different properties of the chemical fertilizers including granulation, particle size, moisture, etc.

Aims of Soil Testing:

Diagnosis the nutrient deficiencies in soils before planting
Determination the fates of added fertilizers to soil in order to increase their nutrients availability for plants.
Increase the farmer`s awareness about regions that there are toxicity risks for plants, animals and humans.

The most important stage of soil analysis is sampling:

Soil sampling places are various depend on geometry shape of the gardens. Soil sampling is done between the rows and in the canopy of trees in the gardens. One of the soil sampling methods is sampling 15 samples as randomly or zigzag form, mixing them and sending a 2 kg composite sample to lab. Soil sample should be indicator of the all garden. Soil sampling for gardens and transplanting farms is done from depths of 0-30 and 30-60 cm; because the most density of the tree`s roots those uptake nutrients placed in these depths.

Notes on soil samples of fruit orchards:

Place a 2 kg-composite sample of soil in a plastic bag and fasten it tightly, so that the soil does not lose its moisture.
Write the sample characteristics including sampling depth, date of sampling, place and plot of sampling, sampler name and other properties on two sampling papers and place one of the papers into bag and attach another paper on the bag surface.
The surface area of each sampling plot should not be more than one hectare. It should be divided to one-hectare parts and take one sample from each part, if the farm area is larger than one hectare.
It should not be take soil samples from fertilizing or pesticide-sprayed places.
It is recommended that soil sampling is done from outer parts of tree`s canopy.
It is recommended that surface sampling (0-30 cm) is done when the roots have not been awake or active.
It should not be polluted any of the sampling devices including shovel, spade, gloves, etc.
It should not be used from galvanized devices for soil sampling.

Time of Soil Sampling:

In general, the best time for sampling and analysis of garden soils is before garden establishment; however, if the garden is established, the best time for soil sampling is late winter until early spring or late summer until early autumn.

Second method: Sampling and analysis the leaves of fruit trees:

The plant analysis is preferred to soil analysis in gardens due to extensive trees root and last long-time of the growing period. Therefore, it is suggested that each year the leaf samples are prepared and sent to lab in order to yearly fertilizer recommendation and access to information about nutrient uptake by plant roots. It can be divided the garden to three parts and take one sample in each year in order to reduce the lab analyses costs. Initially, it should be considered the garden from viewpoint of trees (age, tree type, specie etc.) and garden condition (land slope, land form, garden irrigation, garden and trees direction) and garden divided to equal parts and plant sampling is done before foliar spraying or pesticide application due to prevent from foliar and pesticide applications on results of plant analysis.

Important notes in the sampling from fruit trees:

Sampling time of the most fruit trees is about 8-12 weeks after full bloom or one month before harvesting. The time may be varied in the different regions.
Don’t mix the leaf samples from different varieties of a plant.
It should be regarded the trees that have physical harms due to rodents activities or cold or flooding condition.
Prepare 70-100 leaves for each sample.
Take the samples from different parts of tree`s canopy (don’t take the samples from sucker or root spour).
Take the samples from mid of the new growing shoots along with the current season petiole. It is recommended that take the samples from shoots with a height of 1.2 to 2.1 meter from land in large trees.
Don’t take more than 2 leaves from each shoot.
The leaves must be healthy or without diseases and physical harms so that be the real index of tree crown.
Leaf samples should be washed thoroughly with clean water after harvest.
Air-dry the leaf samples in order to prevent from fungal attack to the samples. The leaves should not be exposed under sun light, directly or be placed under heat when they are wet.
Place the air dried samples into the paper or textile bags and attach the samples characteristics on the bags. It should be maintained the plant samples in a cool container containing the ice in order to prevent from early decomposition and production of Anthocyanin in the samples; then transfer the samples to lab.
Sample analysis should be done by the best laboratory devices.
Interpretation should be done based on results of plant analyses and fertilizer recommendation is presented, finally.

It is essential to note that the best fertilizer recommendations will be made when the results of the soil and plant analysis are evaluated together.