ABSTRACT
A major decrease in soil production potential may be due to its physical constraints, such as surface crusting and hardening, hardpan and compactness of the subsurface, and high or slow permeability. This envisages that soil must be maintained in such a physical condition as to increase crop production in order to allow sufficient crop growth. This chapter describes the process that increases soil’s ability to boost crop yield or improves soil’s efficiency for any purpose, which is called soil conditioning and solarization. Soil conditioning involves the creation and stabilization of soil aggregates that are conducive to seed germination and seedling emergence. It has also given about soil solarization using plastic material. The main effects of solarization treatments are found to be primarily related to the thermal action of solarization and the resulting chemical and biological changes in the soil.
