Lesson 12. 1. Fertilizers and their application
Grammar Activities
1. Study the Grammar Focus Seection of this Unit.
2. Translate the sentences . Mind the Complex Subject .
1. Legumes are known to improve soil fertility.
2. This soil has been found to be deficient in some plant nutrients.
3. This seedbed is believed to contain too much moisture.
4. The farm «Rassvet» was said to produce high quality cotton.
5. Alfalfa and clover are known to belong to forage crops.
6. This area was considered to be suitable for growing cereals.
7. Our farm is expected to produce high yield of rye this year.
8. He is thought to become an experienced agronomist in some years.
3. Find the following in text A:
1. сложное подлежащее (3-й абзац);
2. инфинитив в функции обстоятельства цели (3-й абзац);
3. инфинитив в функции подлежащего (3-й абзац);
4. независимый причастный оборот (4-й абзац).
4. Identify by suffixes the parts of speech the following words belong to:
1. application, applicable, applied, applying;
2. nitrogen, nitrogenous;
3. phosphorus, phosphatic;
4. effect, effective, effectively, effectiveness;
5. soluble, solubility;
6. mixture, mixed, mixing.
5. Give the Russian equivalents to the following words.
unnecessary, insufficient, immature, irregular, ineffective, irrational, unplowed.
Vocabulary Focus
| Handwrite the words and word combinations related to text A and give their Russian equivalents. Check them in the agronomy and soil science dictionaries. |
| commercial fertilizers, broadcast application, top dressing, side dressing, lime, mixture, to place, to distribute, injury, to spread (spread, spread), stage, susceptibility, to become (became, become), certain, to consider, to receive, to mean, several, to tend, any, and so on, so that. |
6. Translate text A using the Vocabulary Focus.
Text A
Fertilizers and their application
As crops are known to remove nutrients from the soil, the latter may become deficient in some elements. Application of commercial fertilizers is to improve soil fertility and to ensure better quality of the crops to be grown.
Fertilizers are usually classified according to the food element which forms their main constituent. So, they may be grouped as nitrogenous fertilizers, phosphoric fertilizers, potassic fertilizers and so on.
To be effective, fertilizers should be applied where and when the plant needs them. Single yearly applications were found to be insufficient for some crops, being unnecessary for others. Young growing plants should not be given concentrated, highly soluble fertilizers because of salt injury. To make repeated applications throughout the season is of great use in case of perennials or long-season annuals.
There are various methods of fertilization. Broadcast application means spreading the material uniformly over the soil surface, usually before the crop is planted. Sometimes the fertilizer is placed directly over the growing crop, which2 is known as top dressing. When plants are subject to injury fertilizers can be put alongside the plants as a side-dressing, the latter being often made along with cultivation.
Sometimes a mixed fertilizer containing two or more fertilizer elements is to be applied, the time of placement being highly essential. Mixtures with low amount of nitrogen are usually applied to the soil before or during planting, followed by a top dressing or side-dressing with a liquid or granulated nitrogen fertilizer. Winter cereals usually receive a top dressing in spring. Row crops, such as corn, receive a side dressing after the plants made some growth. With many crops nitrogen is applied several times during the growing season because it is known to be subject to leaching and conversion to unavailable forms. But one should not forget that too much nitrogen tends to cause lodging, late maturity, poor seed development in some crops, and greater susceptibility to certain diseases. Phosphatic fertilizers are considered to be most effective when they are applied before the crop is sown, so that they can be worked into3 the soil and be evenly distributed by plowing. Lime used to correct soil acidity can In- applied at any time of the year and to a crop at any stage of growth.
Notes to the text
1. and so on – и так далее;
2. which ... что (обычно which после запятой соответствует в русском языке слову «что»);
3. to work into – заделывать (удобрения).
| Any – любой (в утвердительных предложениях) |
Grammar and vocabulary activities
7. Identify the Complex Subject in the following sentences. Translate them.
1. Application of fertilizers several times throughout the season has been found to be useful with perennial crops.