Soil surveys and mapping
Soil surveys for land use planning, land resources inventory (particularly for irrigation development, forestry plantations, parks and wildlife, environmental management). GIS Unit is responsible for production of soil maps and the corresponding soil databases.
Advice is given to individual and organisations on the most suitable soil use. Most of the advisory work has covered salinity and sodicity concerns and pollution investigations. The section also disseminates soils information to various user groups within Zimbabwe.
Analytical services offered
- Soil Physics Lab
Infiltration tests, bulk density, aggregate stability, soil moisture determination
- Soil Particle Size Lab
Particle size analysis is done in this lab using the Hydrometer method.
- Soil Chemistry Lab(Cation Exchange Capacity Laboratory)
This is the lab where soil chemical analysis for agriculture and environment is done. The following parameters are analysed in Soil Chemistry Lab.
Exchangeable bases, cation exchange capacity, pH, electrical conductivity, heavy metals, soil organic carbon