Explain the importance of soil for plant growth.

Explanation

Soil plays a crucial role in plant.s life.
(i) It acts as an anchor for holding plant body.
(ii) It regulates the water cycle and mineral distribution through various biogeochemical cycles involved in soil (carbon and nitrogen cycle etc.).
(iii) It also acts as a habitat for various soil microbes and few are beneficial for the plant body too e.g. Nitrogen fixing bacterias.
(iv) The most of the recycling of organic and inorganic matter through various decomposers takes place in soil, which completes the chemical cycles and provide natural fertilizers for growth (e.g. decomposed dead leaves, animal residues etc.)
(v) The different soil pH and salinity level helps in growth of a variety of plant bodies in different geographic regions (e.g. soil composition differs from Punjab to that of soil present in Kolkata so the leads to splitting of water molecule cultivation will also differ).