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Soil Quality: Science and Process
Agronomy Journal
Abstract
The term soil quality (SQ) encompasses both a soil's productive and environmental capabilities. Strategies or frameworks that help farmers manage SQ are vital as sole emphasis on production can have negative environmental consequences and exclusive focus on environmental considerations could endanger supplies of food or fiber. Recent efforts in the USA have prioritized the development of SQ assessment strategies that would be used by individual farmers. The Illinois Soil Quality Initiative (ISQI) is an example of a participatory research strategy coupled with a SQ index-screening trial conducted on farm fields. A multivariate approach was used to identify promising indices and document tradeoffs in soil condition that were associated with tillage choices. Participatory aspects of the project confirmed that farmers appreciated the multivariate nature of soil and had great interest in SQ and stewardship. A dialogue component of the project had been structured to identify and then respond to cooperators' SQ information needs and to contribute to the development of indices that were related to soil function. Cooperator feedback suggested that a simple extension of this approach would be incapable of motivating or justifying the adoption of SQ building practices because factors constraining management choices were primarily structural (socioeconomic). Constructive follow-up efforts might strive to develop techniques to integrate SQ information into frameworks that reflect the outcomes to be achieved within social or economic contexts. Only by devising such strategies (which might combine models, indices, expect knowledge, and/or direct measurement) will we be able to manage the soil resource to achieve desired ends.
... The Soil Quality Index (SQI) was calculated by multiplying Weight Index (Wi) and Score Index (Si) of the selected indicators (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2014). The way to determine the scoring index is by adjusting the results of the laboratory analysis against the scoring benchmarks according to Lal (1994); Wander et al. (2002); BPT (2005) ( where: SQI = Soil Quality Index Si = Score index of the selected indicators (Lal, 1994;Wander et al., 2002;BPT, 2005) Wi = Weight index of selected indicators n = Number of soil quality indicators ...
... The Soil Quality Index (SQI) was calculated by multiplying Weight Index (Wi) and Score Index (Si) of the selected indicators (Mukhopadhyay et al., 2014). The way to determine the scoring index is by adjusting the results of the laboratory analysis against the scoring benchmarks according to Lal (1994); Wander et al. (2002); BPT (2005) ( where: SQI = Soil Quality Index Si = Score index of the selected indicators (Lal, 1994;Wander et al., 2002;BPT, 2005) Wi = Weight index of selected indicators n = Number of soil quality indicators ...
... Changes in land-use systems can cause long-term and large-scale changes in soil structure and microbial activity in biological processes that affect soil quality (Xiao et al., 2017). 3 3 2 3 3 4 3 3 4 3 3 3 BS 2 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 Organic C 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Available P 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Porosity 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 4 2 3 Remarks: Scoring for selected indicators (Si) (Lal, 1994;Wander et al., 2002;BPT, 2005); BS = base saturation. 3 3 2 3 3 4 3 3 4 3 3 3 BS 0.29 2 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 Organic C 0.21 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Available P 0. Field land use has higher nutrient content and better porosity than other land uses. ...
Determination of soil quality in Giriwoyo Sub-district, Wonogiri Regency, will generate a Soil Quality Index which can be used as a reference for soil cultivation for optimal productivity. This research was a descriptive exploratory with a survey approach. The survey area consisted of 12 land mapping units (LMU) with 3 replications for each LMU. Determination of LMU based on soil type, land use, slope and rainfall. The parameters used were BD (bulk density), porosity, organic C, pH, CEC (cation exchange capacity), BS (base saturation), available P, available K, total N, and MBC (microbial biomass carbon) that represented the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) analysis was performed to obtain the Minimum Data Set (MDS). The Soil Quality Index (SQI) at each LMU was calculated by multiplying the PCA result score (Wi) with the score for each selected indicator (Si). The result showed that the Soil Quality Index at each LMU was low. The highest Soil Quality Index was found in fields land use with an SQI of 0.34. The soil indicator that limited the soil quality was available P.
... Table 1 sum-marizes the current condition of all soil indicators which were measured. The result indicated that BD in Location (5), (9) and Control were lower than 1.2 [g.cm -3 ], it is categorized as an optimal value (Wander et al., 2002). Low BD indicates as good condition, it means that soil has good soil pore, root penetration, water and air circulation and soil aggregates (Macci et al., 2012;Mondal et al., 2015). ...
... Low BD indicates as good condition, it means that soil has good soil pore, root penetration, water and air circulation and soil aggregates (Macci et al., 2012;Mondal et al., 2015). According to Wander et al. (2002), the optimum of SP ranges between 40-60%, it was in Location (3), (5) and Control. ...
... -1 ); EC was very low in all locations (<0.1 dS.m -1 ); and Av-K was moderate in Location (1) and (5) (20-40 ppm), high in Location (3), (4) and (7) (40-60 ppm), and very high in the rests (>60 ppm). According to Wander et al. (2002), Av-P in all locations were high (>15 ppm), while soil respirations were also high (>0.132 mg CO 2 .gr ...
Indonesia’s agricultural land has potentials to be expanded. To achieve a food security in Papua, Indonesia’s government has been promoting a program namely Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE). The objective of this study is to determine soil quality on several paddy fields in Merauke District, Papua. Soil samples were gathered from 9 old paddy fields and 1 new paddy field (as the control). This study used the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to determine the most appropriate indicator to form minimum data set (MDS). MDS was taken to calculate the Soil Quality Index (SQI). Some soil properties were used as indicators which were consist of soil pH, organic carbon (OC), bulk density (BD), particulate organic matter (POM), Available-N (Av-N) and it represented 89.3% of the variability of data. The results showed that all SQI in the study sites were lower than location 10/the control site (3.470), except for location 3 which has the same SQI level. In fact, land use changes from natural into paddy fields or other agriculture lands may degrade soil and land functions. Therefore, the action requires more efforts to maintain the soil function. © 2017, National Centre for Agrarian Sciences. All rights reserved.
... It can change dead organic substances into organic matter and then obtain energy Table 2). Note: VL -very low; L -low; M -medium; H -high; VH -very high; S -slow; F -fast; MA -medium acid; N -neutral; I -ideal; LR -low reduction; MR -medium reduction Based on the criteria of Wander et al. (2002), soil porosity in the organic farming system is low (16.82%) and in the non-organic farming system -very low (11.25%). Porosity is a total of air space in units of soil volume in the water and the air. ...
... Then, the value of the selected indicator on the PC is multiplied by the scores of each selected indicator to determine the value of soil quality. Scoring of soil quality was based on Wander et al. (2002) and the Indonesian Soil Research Institute (2009). The results obtained from the calculation of the soil quality index, were then categorized. ...
Soil quality is a measure of the condition of soil. The goal of sustainable agriculture is to
maintain a non-negative trend in productivity while maintaining soil quality. Susukan is an area in
Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, which has developed organic farming to increase rice productivity
and quality. The main objective was to determine the sustainability of organic rice cropping systems.
The organic farming system at the research location has been conducted for 8 years. Appropriate
agricultural management can maintain the quality of soil, environment and improve the health of
plants, animals and humans. This research aims to know the soil quality and determine the minimum
data set (MDS) in organic and non-organic paddy field with a technical irrigation system. Paddy
soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory. The parameters are porosity, permeability, hydrogen
potential (pH), cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic matter (SOC), total-N (nitrogen), carbon/
nitrogen (C/N) ratio, available-P (phosphorus), available-K (potassium), base saturation (BS),
electric conductivity (EC), soil respiration (qCO2), redox potential (Eh) with 3 repetitions. The value
of soil quality index (SQI) in the organic paddy field is 3.216 with bad soil quality criteria, while the
non-organic paddy field is 0.147 with very bad criteria. The soil quality values are based on the key
factors or MDS that is potential redox (EH), soil respiration (qCO2), potential hydrogen (pH), porosity,
soil organic matter (SOC), total-N (nitrogen), C/N ratio, available-P (phosphorus).
... It can change dead organic substances into organic matter and then obtain energy Table 2). Note: VL -very low; L -low; M -medium; H -high; VH -very high; S -slow; F -fast; MA -medium acid; N -neutral; I -ideal; LR -low reduction; MR -medium reduction Based on the criteria of Wander et al. (2002), soil porosity in the organic farming system is low (16.82%) and in the non-organic farming system -very low (11.25%). Porosity is a total of air space in units of soil volume in the water and the air. ...
... Then, the value of the selected indicator on the PC is multiplied by the scores of each selected indicator to determine the value of soil quality. Scoring of soil quality was based on Wander et al. (2002) and the Indonesian Soil Research Institute (2009). The results obtained from the calculation of the soil quality index, were then categorized. ...
p>Soil quality is a measure of the condition of soil. The goal of sustainable agriculture is to maintain a non-negative trend in productivity while maintaining soil quality. Susukan is an area in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, which has developed organic farming to increase rice productivity and quality. The main objective was to determine the sustainability of organic rice cropping systems. The organic farming system at the research location has been conducted for 8 years. Appropriate agricultural management can maintain the quality of soil, environment and improve the health of plants, animals and humans. This research aims to know the soil quality and determine the minimum data set (MDS) in organic and non-organic paddy field with a technical irrigation system. Paddy soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory. The parameters are porosity, permeability, hydrogen potential (pH), cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic matter (SOC), total-N (nitrogen), carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio, available-P (phosphorus), available-K (potassium), base saturation (BS), electric conductivity (EC), soil respiration (qCO2), redox potential (Eh) with 3 repetitions. The value of soil quality index (SQI) in the organic paddy field is 3.216 with bad soil quality criteria, while the non-organic paddy field is 0.147 with very bad criteria. The soil quality values are based on the key factors or MDS that is potential redox (EH), soil respiration (qCO2), potential hydrogen (pH), porosity, soil organic matter (SOC), total-N (nitrogen), C/N ratio, available-P (phosphorus).</p
... El cambio más importante de un suelo que ha sido manejado con labranza convencional (CT) y se incorpora a cero labranza es un aumento del carbono orgánico (COS) cercano a la superficie, lo que produce un cambio en sus propiedades en forma estratificada. El aumento del COS tiene generalmente un efecto positivo en la calidad (Wander et al., 2002) y capacidad productiva del suelo (Bauer y Black, 1994). ...
... El COS afecta la mayoría de las propiedades químicas, físicas y biológicas del suelo vinculadas con su calidad (Carter, 2002, Wander et al., 2002, sustentabilidad (Carter, 2002, Acevedo y Martínez, 2003 y capacidad productiva (Sánchez et al., 2004, Bauer y Black, 1994 por lo que en un manejo sustentable, éste debe mantenerse o aumentarse. ...
... Kualitas tanah yang baik berpengaruh untuk peningkatan hasil produksi, dan mensejahterakan secara ekonomi bagi masyarakat, ketahanan tanah pada erosi, kesehatan manusia dapat terminimalisir dari pengaruh logam berat (Wander et al., 2002). Kualitas tanah berkaitan erat dengan lingkungan, yaitu tanah yang tidak hanya dipandang sebagai produk transformasi mineral, bahan organik dan sebagai media pertumbuhan tanaman, tetapi dipandang secara menyeluruh, yaitu mencakup fungsi lingkungan dan kesehatan (Juarti, 2016). ...
Produktivitas lahan di Daerah Aliran Sungai (DAS) Unda terjadi penurunan akibat jenis tanah Regosol yang sangat rentan pada erosi; serta 45,64% bentuk permukaannya tergolong bergelombang, berbukit sampai bergunung, dan berkembangnya tempat galian C secara ilegal di beberapa tempat. Data kualitas tanah yang diperoleh dapat dimanfaatkan sebagai acuan untuk pengelolaan tanah yang dapat meningkatkan kualitas tanah untuk meningkatkan produktivitas lahan di DAS Unda. Tujuan penelitian untuk mengetahui kualitas tanah pada lahan di DAS Unda; untuk mengetahui faktor apa saja yang menjadi faktor pembatas pada kualitas tanah di DAS Unda; untuk mengetahui sebaran spasial kualitas tanah di DAS Unda; memberikan arahan pengelolaan tanah berdasarkan faktor pembatas yang diperoleh di DAS Unda. Penelitian dilaksanakan di lahan DAS Unda yang melalui Kabupaten Bangli, Karangasem dan Klungkung, Provinsi Bali. dan di Laboratorium Ilmu Tanah, Fakultas Pertanian, Universitas Udayana. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode survei, analisis tanah di laboratorium, dan penetapan kualitas tanah. Indikator kualitas tanah yang diukur sebagai minimum data set (MDS): berat volume tanah, tekstur tanah, porositas, kadar air kapasitas lapang, pH, C-organik, KTK, KB, unsur hara (N, P dan K), dan C-biomassa. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kualitas tanah pada lokasi penelitian tergolong buruk tingginya tingkat erosi tanah dan kurangnya kandungan bahan organik pada tanah pada SLH 2, 5, 7, 15, 16 dan 17. Pada SLH 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27 dan 28 menunjukkan kualitas tanah sedang diakibatkan berbagai faktor seperti kelembaban tanah yang tinggi, kandungan bahan organik yang rendah, kandungan bahan hara yang tidak seimbang, kondisi morfologi tanah yang kurang ideal, dan penggunaan pupuk yang kurang tepat, pH rendah dan kepadatan tanah. Berbeda dengan SLH 1 (Desa Pempatan), 14 (Desa Menanga), 24 (Desa Gunaksa) dan 25 (Desa Telaga Tawang) dengan nilai IKT 25 tergolong kualitas baik. Faktor-faktor pembatas di daerah penelitian meliputi: pH tanah, tekstur tanah, porositas, P-tersedia, N-total, C-organik dan C-Biomassa. Direkomendasikan pengolahan tanah dengan menggunakan pemupukan dengan pupuk organik dan Urea pada SLH 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 26, dan 27. Pemupukan SP-36/TSP dianjurkan pada SLH 12, 24, 25, dan 28.
... Soil quality assessment curves are slightly better for BD parameters as published by Nabiollahi et al. (2017). Optimum assessment curve for pH, porosity, and sand, silt and clay fraction percentage (Wander et al. 2002;Andrews et al. 2004). ...
... The final stage is that the selected indicators are given a score based on their scoring value. The BD and MBC parameters were weighted using scoring from Lal (1994); porosity and pH parameters with scoring from Wander et al. (2002); and SOC, EC e , CEC, BS, AK, AP, and TN parameters using scoring Balittanah (2009). Data analysis is complete, followed by calculating the soil quality index using the formula: Table 2). ...
... From the agricultural view, soil quality is its ability to produce or soil fertility. Due to the vulnerability of the agricultural soils to environmental changes and human activities, attention to soil quality has a high strategic and economic importance in many countries (Wander et al. 2002;Sun et al. 2022). ...
Evaluating the Soil Quality Index (SQI affected by continuous and long-term cultivation operations to identify the threat of soil destruction and its controlling is a severe challenge. The current study has investigated the effects of cultivation operations on SQI in a wide area (37,524 ha), and with various types of soil (three soil orders including Inceptisols, Mollisols, and Vertisols) and the record of several decades of wheat cultivation. After determining the total data set (TDS) and minimum data set (MDS), the SQI was calculated using Integrated Quality Index (IQI) and Nemoro Quality Index (NQI) models. The results showed that most soil indicators (e.g., electrical conductivity, sodium adsorption ratio, organic carbon, and bulk density) were negatively affected by long-term cultivation operations. Compared to the control soils, the values of IQI-T, NQI-T, IQI-M, and NQI-M had been decreased ranging from 17 to 24%, 20 to 27%, 17 to 22%, and 21 to 26%, respectively, in the cultivated soils. The most significant decrease in the average SQI value was observed in the Vertisols (24% decrease), followed by Inceptisols (21% decrease) and Mollisols (19.5% decrease). The regression equations indicated that IQI-T, NQI-T, IQI-M, and NQI-M models could explain 59%, 39%, 53%, and 35% and 57%, 37%, 51%, and 33% of changes in the biological and grain yields of wheat, respectively. The current study provides a quantitative method for evaluating the soil quality at the soil type-scale and creatively analyzes the effects of long-term and continuous cultivation operations on the soil quality and product performance.
... The soil, which stores nutrients and water for plant roots, is the cornerstone of any ecosystem, including urban gardening and plantations. The ability of soil to operate within ecosystems by sustaining plant productivity, protecting or enhancing air and water quality, and promoting environmental and human health is characterized as soil quality (Wander et al., 2002;Yang et al., 2022). Soil quality also affects plant development by altering the quality of nutrients acquired by plant roots. ...
Abstract Soil is the base of any ecosystem since it conserves nutrients and water for plant roots including agriculture and plantations. In dry and semi-arid places across the world, including the UAE, sandy soils are common. Their fertility is extremely low, and production is hampered by a number of agronomic challenges. Soil conditioner sources like bentonite and chicken manure might be used to improve the poor sandy soil attributes and hence boost soil productivity. From November 2019 to March 2020, an experiment was conducted to investigate the growth rates of Bougainvillea following bentonite and chicken manure amendments to sandy soil taken from Lehbab, Dubai. Bougainvillea was evaluated for its plant height (cm), max length of primary branch (cm), the number of leaves per plant, number of secondary branches, shoot weight (g), root length (cm), root weight (g), root/shoot ratio, chlorophyll contents, and chlorophyll a* and b*. In this experiment, a complete randomized design (CRD) with five treatments was used (10 replications per treatment). According to the findings, bentonite and chicken manure additions considerably influence the productive properties of sandy soil, as indicated by Bougainvillea growth. Additionally, the research suggests that Bougainvillea may be efficiently planted with 10% bentonite and 15% chicken manure applied to sandy soil, resulting in the healthiest plants compared to other amendments.
... Soil quality is a comprehensive measure of its fertility quality, health quality, and environmental quality (Zornoza et al. 2015). The concept of soil quality emerged out of concern regarding agricultural sustainability (Wander et al. 2002). Soil physicochemical properties are essential indicators of soil quality, which can reflect the soil structure and fertility status (Raiesi 2017). ...
Vegetation restoration is widely used to reduce soil erosion and control soil degradation, which is conducive to improving soil quality. Aerial seeding is an effective vegetation recovery method that has been applied in large areas with severe soil erosion in China. Pinus massoniana is not only a typical native coniferous tree species, but also a pioneer tree species for vegetation recovery in subtropical China. This study evaluates the soil quality of aerially seeded P. massoniana plantations of different stand ages and examines the vegetation factors affecting soil quality. Principal component analysis and Pearson correlation analysis were used to determine the minimum data set (MDS) for developing a soil quality index. The relationship between soil quality and vegetation factors was analyzed using redundancy analysis. The MDS was established with soil bulk density, field water capacity, non-capillary porosity, total nitrogen, soil organic matter, and pH. The results showed that the soil quality significantly increased with vegetation recovery age at 0–20 and 20–50 cm soil depths. The soil quality of the surface layer was mainly affected by understory vegetation and litter, whereas that of the deep layer was mainly affected by trees. Therefore, the appropriate management of P. massoniana forest, achieved by appropriately extending forest management rotation, replanting broad-leaved trees, and minimizing the damage to understory vegetation and litter, is essential for effectively improving soil quality.
... The appropriate aggregates structure combines many soil properties and determines its fertility, biodiversity, nutrient cycle and carbon sequestration and regulates (both quantitatively and qualitatively) the water cycle [1][2][3]. The quality of soil results from a number of its morphological, biological, chemical and physical properties, which are dependent, among other factors, on the type of tillage [4][5][6][7]. Currently, when sustainable agriculture is being introduced, special attention is being paid to the improvement of soil fertility and soil physical properties [3]. ...
Living mulches can play a crucial role in the protection of the soil against erosion, as well as biological and chemical degradation. Soil fertility and its physical properties, including soil structure, are of special importance to crops. Soil physical properties are affected, among other factors, by the type of tillage. In order to determine the effect of regenerative practice (living mulches) on soil physical properties, a two-factorial experiment was conducted. The first factor involved white clover and perennial ryegrass as an intercropping of eggplant. The second factor was the living mulches sowing term: three weeks before eggplant planting, at the time of planting and three weeks after eggplant planting. Covering eggplant inter-rows with living mulches reduced eggplant yield and was beneficial to soil structure and improved water resistance of soil aggregates. Perennial ryegrass had a slightly more advantageous effect on yield and improvement of soil physical properties, as compared to white clover. The greater eggplant fruit yield was obtained from vegetable grown without companion plants. The application of living mulches (especially Trifolium repens L.) caused a non-significant decrease in eggplant fruit yield. It was found that limiting the growth of seedlings sown on the first date result in a decrease in marketable fruit yield (on average 14%). A similar result occurred when living mulches were sown on the planting date of eggplants and difference between the yields was 4.3%. The first term of sowing living mulches—three weeks before eggplant planting—no significantly affected the mean weighted diameter of soil aggregate (MWDg), the water stability index (ΔMWD), the index of waterproof index (Wod) and the soil structure index (W). Later sowing terms resulted in the improvement of the majority of the parameters; however, this was not confirmed statistically. Soil with periodic mechanical treatment of inter-rows showed the 3–4% lower values of soil porosity, 3–16% increased compactness, as well as 28–30% lower indices soil structure and 28–30% for water resistance of soil aggregates compared to the living mulches system.
... (Dong et al., 2013). Maintained soil quality will affect humans economically by selling crops, soil resistance to erosion, minimized human health from the influence of heavy metals (Wander et al., 2002;Kurniawan et al., 2021). ...
This study aimed at examining the analysis of the soil quality index of dry land use on dry land in Blang Bintang District, Aceh Besar District. This research was conducted using a descriptive method based on the results of surveys and field observations as well as laboratory analysis. General biophysical conditions of the area and physical and chemical characteristics of the soil obtained from observations and indicators of soil quality through soil analysis in the laboratory. Soil sampling points were determined using the purposive sampling method, namely the points that have been determined on selected dry land in Blang Bintang District, Regency of Aceh Besar. The moderate soil quality index in the upland land use type is one of the reasons for the sampling of the Inceptisol soil type in the Blang Bintang sub-district, which has less fertile soil characteristics. Upland land use is the percentage of sand (57%) which is greater than the percentage of dust (36%) and clay (6%). This can be seen in the low content of C-organic (1.19), H2O, K-dd, P-available and N-total and high volume weight (1.34).
... Penilaian kualitas tanah dapat berfungsi sebagai alat bagi manager pertanian dan bagi pembuat kebijakan lainnya untuk mendapatkan pemahaman yang lebih baik tentang sistem pertanian yang dapat mempengaruhi sumberdaya tanah (Dong et al., 2013). Kualitas tanah yang terjaga akan berpengaruh kepada manusia secara ekonomi dengan penjualan hasil panen, ketahanan tanah terhadap erosi, kesehatan manusia yang terminimalisasi dari pengaruh logam berat (Wander et al., 2002). DAS Mikro Supiturung, Kabupaten Kediri, Jawa Timur merupakan hamparan bekas aliran lahar yang mempunyai topografi bergelombang dengan kemiringan lereng 0-15 %, berbatu dan berpasir Hal tersebut menyebabkan karakteristik lahan memiliki tekstur tanah dominan berpasir. ...
Soil quality is the ability of soil that plays a role in maintaining plant productivity, preserving and maintaining water availability and supporting human activities. Soil quality assessment is measured based on indicators that describe important soil processes based on the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. The level of soil quality in a plot of land is assessed based on the soil quality index. This research was conducted from August to December 2020 in the Supiturung Micro Watershed, Kediri Regency, East Java using a graphical survey method based on the Land Map Unit. Soil samples were taken at a depth of 0-20 cm at each observation point (20 points) for analysis in the laboratory. Soil quality indicators are determined based on key soil properties with the Minimum Data Set (MDS) method, with soil quality indicators from soil physical properties including texture, bulk density, porosity and soil chemical properties including pH, available-P, exchangeable-K, total-N, organic-C. Soil quality index was calculated by weighting soil quality indicators with criteria which divided into 5 classes, i.e. (i) very low class (0.00-0.19), (ii) low (0.20-0.39), (iii) moderate (0.40-0.59), (iv) good (0.60-0.79) and (v) very good (0.80-1.00). The results showed that the soil in land unit 2 had different limiting factor values on the percentage of sand and dust from the soil texture, the total-N content of the soil and the organic-C content of the soil which caused differences in soil quality. There are two indicators of soil quality, namely the percentage of dust from the soil texture and the total N content of the soil which has the most influence on the soil quality index.
... Therefore, C-Mic depends on the clay content and is influenced by the sugarcane monoculture system. The mineralized carbon content is low in all soil types and monoculture periods ( Wander et al. 2002). Soil nitrogen availability increases with soil organic matter decomposition rate ( Logah et al. 2010). ...
Sugarcane is a strategic commodity in Indonesia. It is usually raised in a monoculture system. There is a lack of information about the effects of extended sugarcane monoculture on the soil carbon fraction. The aim of this study was to determine the relative changes in the soil organic C fractions in response to the duration of sugarcane monoculture on Entisols, Inceptisols, and Vertisols. The measured variables were the percentages of sand, silt, and clay, organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN), pH (H2O), cation exchange capacity (CEC), NH4⁺, NO3⁻, labile carbon fraction (soil carbon mineralization (C-Min), soil microbial carbon (C-Mic), and carbon particulate organic matter (C-POM)), and stable carbon fraction (humic and fulvic acids). Soil type with sugarcane monoculture period had significant influences on the percentages of clay, sand, silt, CEC, and pH (H2O). Soil type and sugarcane monoculture period had no apparent significant effect on C-Min or C-POM but did significantly influence C-Mic. The humic and fulvic acid levels in all three soil types were affected by the duration of sugarcane monoculture. To establish the impact of long-term sugarcane monoculture on the physicochemical properties of soils with various textures, it is more appropriate to measure the soil stable carbon fractions such as humic and fulvic acid rather than the soil labile carbon fractions such as C-Min, C-POM, or C-Mic.
... However, these soil concepts are complex and cannot be easily measured in the field or laboratory (Diack and Stott, 2001;Ludwig et al., 2018). Integration and indication approaches that go beyond individual soil attribute measurements are necessary to address the health and security of soils (Granatstein and Bezdicek, 1992;Karlen et al., 2001;Wander et al., 2002). Indication schemes can quantitatively represent attributes or internal characteristics of processes or systems that are onerous to measure/represent (Joint Research Centre-European Commission, 2008). ...
Conventional multivariate statistics that have been used to create indication systems to assess soil functions raise theoretical and practical issues. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) that can overcome such issues is a well-known management tool in other fields than soil science. This study is the first to use the DEA for a soil-related phenomenon across a large region. Soil carbon sequestra-tion (SCseq) capability index scores in Florida, USA, were computed using the DEA with two settings (free dispos-ability hull, FDH and variable returns-to-scale, VRS) to assess the soil carbon sequestration function. Findings suggest that sites with high annual temperature, precipitation,
... Contaminación superficiales y subsuperficiales, y pérdidas de biodiversidad en un amplio radio alrededor del área donde son utilizados (Wander et al., 2002). ...
Soil degradation in the Venezuelan Llanos is a complex problem; confronting it, agricultural development faces a huge challenge: to achieve adequate and sustainable levels of production and keep pace with conservation of natural resources. Although, currently, there are important advances in the understanding of the main types and processes of soil degradation, their application to the lands of the Venezuelan Llanos face constraints due, among other reasons, to the scarce adequate information available. In soils of the Venezuelan Llanos, soil structure degradation and water erosion are the main active degradation processes. But also processes such as acidification, contamination and even pollution affect the lands. Other processes such as salinization and alkalinization, with important potential risk in areas under irrigation, are actually less widespread. Quantitative assessment and mapping of the current and potential level of degradation are still scarce, both by the limited research done on the subject, as the need to complete detail-scale soil information, since the existing one is a very general scale (<1/250.000). To correctly report the specific nature of the soil degradation in the Llanos, it was necessary to briefly recall the edaphic and agricultural context of the region. It’s the reason why the authors evoke firstly elements of the characterization of soils and agricultural production of the Llanos (in some cases below the modality of inserting complementary information), through which readers not specialized in the respective topics, can be easily documented. Then, starting the presentation of typical cases of soil degradation processes manifested in the different Llanos sub-regions.
... Soil quality of agriculture land in rapidly developing regions is economically important but environmentally unstable (Wander et al., 2002). A better working knowledge of a soil's quality is important to improve sustainable land use management (McGrath and Zhang, 2003), provide early warning signs of adverse trends, identify problem areas (Bindraban et al., 2000) and provide a valuable base against which subsequent and future measurements can be evaluated. ...
Fields with rice-based cropping systems are unique from other wetland or upland soils because
they are associated with frequent cycling between wetting and drying under anaerobic and
aerobic conditions. This alters the C and N transformations, microbial activities and their
diversity and soil physical properties, depending on the other crop in rotation with rice. This
paper aims to compare the soil quality indicators of Vertisols of central plains of Chhattisgarh
under rice-wheat and rice-chickpea cropping systems. The results indicated that among the
cropping systems, soil physical, chemical and biological properties were found to be varying
significantly. Accordingly, it is concluded that soil quality indicators were registered better
rice-chickpea cropping system (RC and RL) than that of soils under rice-wheat.
... The selected indicators which constitute the MDS of each PC are porosity, cation exchange capacity, C/N ratio, permeability, organic carbon, electrical conductivity, and available-P. The results of the indicator scores were classified according to Wander et al. (2002), whereas the results of SQI calculations (Table 5) Soil quality shows the ability of the soil to display its functions in the ecosystem, to sustain biological productivity, to maintain environmental quality, and to improve the health of plants, animals and humans. High soil quality shows high soil fertility (Winarso 2005). ...
Rainfed lowland rice is grown in land where the irrigation systems depend on rainwater. The use of chemical fertilizers in large quantities in order to improve production of rice will result in soil quality degradation. In order to improve the condition of the soil, a system of organic farming was provided. The aim of this study was to quantify soil quality in rainfed lowland ricefilds using soil quality indexes (SQI) and to compare SQIs of farming system under organic and conventional fertilization. The sample consists of seven sample points on soil fertilized organically and three sample points on soil which is managed in a conventional way, each taken from 5 subpoints at a depth of 0–30 cm and analyzed for 12 soil variables. The best representative soil quality variables forming a minimum data set (MDS) were selected using principal component analysis (PCA), and soil quality scores were obtained using both linear and non-linear scoring functions. The study results indicate that in case of organic farming system, the soil quality was better (SQI = 2.079) when compared to its quality in the conventional farming system (SQI = 1.397). The selected indicators used as the MDS are soil porosity, cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic carbon, C/N ratio, soil permeability, available-P (Av-P), and electrical conductivity (EC)
... Table 9.13 Partial factor productivity, agronomic efficiency, benefit-cost ratio and rainfall use efficiency under farmer's nutrient input (FI) and balanced nutrient management ( Thus, soil quality or health is a major driver of enhanced RUE and productivity in the rainfed systems and needs an implementing strategy in which BN is integrated with soil and water conservation and management . For maintaining soil health, the changes in soil quality, as impacted by NRM practices, need to be monitored and assessed on a continuing basis as the outcome of such research can offer the valuable opportunity for the implementation of corrective management practices, as and when needed (Mandal et al., 2001;Wander et al., 2002;Sanchez et al., 2003;Andrews et al., 2004;Lilburne et al., 2004;Turner et al., 2007;Wilson et al., 2008;Cotching and Kidd 2010;Sahrawat et al., 2010a). ...
Soil, water, vegetation, and production systems constitute the most important natural resources in an agroecosystem. In the rainfed production systems, the importance of water shortage and associated stress cannot be overemphasized especially in the semiarid tropical (SAT) regions (Pathak et al., 2009; Passioura and Angus 2010; Rockström et al., 2010; Sahrawat et al., 2010a; Sharma et al., 2010). However, apart from water shortage, soil infertility is also the issue for crop production and productivity enhancement in much of the SAT regions of the world (El-Swaify et al., 1985; Black 1993; Zougmore et al., 2003; Sahrawat et al., 2007, 2010a; Bationo et al., 2008; Singh 2008; Twomlow et al., 2008a; Bekunda et al., 2010).
... Thus, soil quality or health is a major driver of enhanced RUE and productivity in the rainfed systems and needs an implementing strategy in which BN is integrated with soil and water conservation and management . For maintaining soil health, the changes in soil quality, as impacted by NRM practices, need to be monitored and assessed on a continuing basis as the outcome of such research can offer the valuable opportunity for the implementation of corrective management practices, as and when needed (Mandal et al., 2001;Wander et al., 2002;Sanchez et al., 2003;Andrews et al., 2004;Lilburne et al., 2004;Turner et al., 2007;Wilson et al., 2008;Cotching and Kidd 2010;Sahrawat et al., 2010a). ...
This book provides a comprehensive presentation of the realization of improved rainfed agriculture yield in semi-arid and dry land areas. The incentive of watershed programs is to increase the return on investment with over 20% for 65% of the projects that are currently underperforming. Besides techniques to improve the livelihood of the many small.
... Para la evaluación de la calidad del suelo se han desarrollado funciones que agrupan indicadores físicos y químicos del suelo, los cuales se evalúan mediante rangos y tablas de puntaje, expresando la aptitud del suelo para la producción vegetal o animal (Wander et al. 2002). ...
... Para la evaluación de la calidad del suelo se han desarrollado funciones que agrupan indicadores físicos y químicos del suelo, los cuales se evalúan mediante rangos y tablas de puntaje, expresando la aptitud del suelo para la producción vegetal o animal (Wander et al. 2002). ...
The Book is related to design, management and evaluation of dairy cattle agroecosystems
... Para la evaluación de la calidad del suelo se han desarrollado funciones que agrupan indicadores físicos y químicos del suelo, los cuales se evalúan mediante rangos y tablas de puntaje, expresando la aptitud del suelo para la producción vegetal o animal (Wander et al. 2002). ...
... The scores of all these indicators were then obtained by dividing the corresponding observed indicator values with the highest value. In case of the available P indicator, 'more is better' concept is valid upto a threshold value of 50 kg ha -1 (Wander et al., 2002) and thereafter 'less is better' concept was followed. In the study, the available P values were less than the threshold of 50 kg ha -1 , thus only the 'more is better' concept was used for scoring. ...
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key component in maintaining soil quality. Mapping the local scale variations in the distribution and stratification of SOC and other soil quality parameters across different layers has always been a challenging task, in the current global scenario of changing climates. The study was aimed to investigate the spatial distribution of SOC and other soil quality parameters including SOC stratification ratio and CN ratio in a small hilly watershed (̴ 10 km2) located in the mid Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh, India. Soil samples were collected in November 2015, from 75 points at two depths (0-15 cm and 15-30cm), along with their geographical coordinates using a Global Positioning System (GPS). The results revealed that SOC concentration (g kg-1) decreased with increasing soil depth, throughout the study area and differed significantly (P
... One approach to improve the management and land use systems in the region is through the evaluation of soil quality (Rahmanipour et al., 2014). Soil quality can determine the productivity of plants, animals and the quality of the environment over a long period (Wander et al., 2002). The evaluation of soil quality is important to optimize the production and conservation of natural resources (Shahab et al., 2013) and can serve as a tool for agricultural managers and policymakers to gain a better understanding of how the agricultural system can affect soil resources (Dong et al., 2013). ...
This paper is retracted by editor due to publication ethics missconducted by author (simultaneously publication in other journal).
... Soil quality, a complex functional concept (Stocking, 2003), cannot be measured directly but may be assessed from management-induced changes in soil attributes. Conveniently, crop yield can be used as an integrator of the resultant of these indicators (Arshad and Martin, 2002;Wander et al., 2002). We argue that CC NT may negate the rotation effect by gradually reducing soil quality. ...
When crop-pasture rotations are converted to continuous no-till annual cropping systems, the grain yield of wheat crops in the rotation stagnates or declines in response to the number of years of continuous cropping (YCC). We studied the soil properties underlining the response of wheat yield to YCC in 80 on-farm trials during three growing seasons. We determined the frontier yield and the yield gap under limited (YF−, or best technical means) and unlimited nutrient supply (YF+, supplemental additions of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulfur). For each field, we assessed soil quality based on soil organic carbon (SOC), phosphorus (Bray I), soil texture, field water infiltration rate (INF), and potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN). We also calculated a climatological index (CI) that combines temperature, radiation and precipitation during both the spike and early grain growth phases. We estimated YF−and YF+using stochastic frontier production functions with CI, YCC and soil properties as predictor variables. The YF−and YF+ after a perennial pasture were 6.9 and 8.4 Mg ha⁻¹, with the 1.5 Mg ha⁻¹ yield gap attributable to nutrient supply limitations. However, while YF− declined by 0.12 Mg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ from YCC = 1 to 10 (P ≤ 0.05), YF+ stayed at roughly the same level till YCC = 5, declining thereafter by 0.17 Mg ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ (P ≤ 0.05). Reduced soil nutrient supply capacity, partially quantified as PMN and amendable with supplemental fertilization, limited YF− during the first five years after pasture. The subsequent YF− decline could not be compensated by increased nutrient supply. After 10 years, the yield gap between YF+ for YCC = 1 and YF− for YCC = 10, increased to 2.6 Mg ha⁻¹. Up to 40% of this gap was explained by a deterioration of the soil quality that was independent of the nutrient supply; the YF+ decline after five years of continuous cropping was best explained by INF. Thus, continuous annual cropping under no-till generated a progressive increase in the wheat yield gap associated to deterioration in soil quality that could be corrected with supplemental fertilization only in the first years after a pasture, but not thereafter, when soil physical properties seemed to degrade past a threshold that limited wheat yield and reduced nutrient use efficiency.
... Repairing process of physical soil is the cause of growing vegetation in soil reclamation. Wander et al. ( 2002) state that the good bulk density value is <1.2 g/cm 3 and the good porosity is between 40% and 60%. The value of bulk density is based on aggregate distribution value, soil organic material (SOM) and coarse fraction (Amacher et al., 2007). ...
The assessment of soil quality index is one of the parameters to evaluate the goal of land reclamation. The research has been done in the various age of soil of PT Adaro Indonesia and natural forest. The research used descriptive explorative method and open field survey. Purposive sampling was used to take the sample in research location that represented the condition of every location. Principal component analysis used to know the main indicator. The main indicator was based on Eigen value >1 and chosen by indicator correlation having the highest weight index. The main indicator chosen was called minimum data set. The result of the research showed that minimum data set consisted of pH, base saturation, bulk density, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, available P, total N, and soil organic carbon. The main indicators contributing to soil quality index value were total N and cation exchange capacity. Variable linear analysis showed that the longer age of land reclamation was followed by the development of soil quality index. Soil quality index in 18 years old soil reclamation (0.651) was higher than that in natural forest (0.575). Soil quality index of > 0.5 is defined as sustainable reclamation.
... Since soil structure and adequate soil nutrients are of prime importance, there has been an increased demand for sustainable agriculture via the use of organic soil amendments (Maftoun et al. 2004). The application of organic amendments such as manure and compost, either alone or in combination with chemical N fertilizers, can maintain or even increase soil organic carbon (Blair et al. 2006;Rudrappa et al. 2006;Manna et al. 2007;Gong et al. 2009;Maltas et al. 2013;Naderi et al. 2016), improve crop yield (Tejada et al. 2006;Naderi and Ghadiri 2010;Onyango et al. 2012;Shafi et al. 2012;Wei et al. 2016;Wang et al. 2017), and maintain soil quality (Wander et al., 2002;Blanchet et al. 2016;Das et al. 2017). ...
In 2012 a greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of field soil (C0), residual composted municipal waste (CMW), and residual composted sheep manure (SM) on the growth of triticale in pots previously growing oilseed rape in 2011. To each soil group, one of three levels of urea nitrogen fertilizer (N) was added. Results demonstrated that triticale grown in pots previously containing oilseed rape plants containing SM or CMW with 150 kg urea N ha⁻¹ had the highest N content. Plants grown in SM with 150 kg N ha⁻¹ had the greatest seed yield, but yield was not significantly different from plants grown in CMW receiving 150 kg N ha⁻¹. Triticale plants enriched by either SM or CMW had a higher amount of N, Cu, Zn, and Mn compared to the field soil control.
... Nous regrettons ainsi le faible nombre d'IQS permettant de mettre en évidence les facteurs limitants en n'agrégeant pas les indicateurs. Certains auteurs ont pourtant mentionné une volonté de la part d'agriculteurs de pouvoir observer la complexité de leurs sols à travers un indice non agrégé (Ditzler et Tugel, 2002 ;Wander et al., 2002). Nous proposons donc une solution alternative à l'agrégation : placer l'IQS à l'échelle des fonctions. ...
Urban sprawl mainly affects agricultural areas, most of them having a high agronomic potential. To contribute to a sustainable management
of soils, soil quality indices could be used to characterize the suitability of soils for their potential agricultural, forested, or urban
land uses as part of land-use planning. Soil quality indices are designed to provide synthetic information about soil condition. However,
their implementation is faced to the difficulty of summarizing soil complexity through one single index. Therefore, a lot of soil quality
indices can be found in the literature. The choice of the soil properties to include is essential and often depends on the end use of the
index, but the way in which soil properties are combined and the weight given to them is also important. The main objective of this review
is thus to examine methods of soil quality assessment, in their technical aspect, and to compare the advantages and disadvantages of
each approach. Because the definition of soil quality involves physical, chemical, and biological properties, this review essentially deals
with multiparameter methods. This review shows that it is possible to bypass some of the difficulties known to affect the design of soil
quality indices, by stratifying wisely land uses and soil functions according to the evaluation scale, and by avoiding the aggregation of
soil indicators in a single value.
Key-words
Land-use planning, soil quality index, inherent soil quality, dynamic soil quality, soil functions, land uses
... This insight should guide our thinking when developing environmentally friendly and sustainable cropping systems (Kirchmann & Bergström 2001). Increasing soil organic matter content through the addition of organic amendments has proven to be a valuable practice for maintaining or restoring soil quality (Wander et al. 2002) and water quality (Oquist et al. 2007). ...
This paper deals with the problem of mineral N leaching from arable lands due to the fertilization method. The influence of different doses of compost (50 and 100 Mg ha⁻¹) and N-mineral fertilizer (35-70-140 kg N ha⁻¹) on leaching of Nmin in a lysimetric experiment with winter wheat. The area of our interest represents the main source of drinking water for the city of Brno and its neighborhoods. To demonstrate the effect of compost and mineral nitrogen addition, the lysimetric experiment was established there. Seven variants of the experiment with different fertilization schemes were studied during two vegetation seasons (2013 and 2014), each with three repetitions. The experiment was carried out in plastic experimental containers of 0.3 m diameter and 0.5 m height. Therefore, each lysimeter was the same size and was filled with 25 kg of subsoil and 25 kg of topsoil. The highest leaching of Nmin was detected in the variant C2 where 140 kg N ha⁻¹ was applied, in both vegetation periods (5.97 kg Nmin ha⁻¹ after the first vegetation period and 17.02 kg Nmin ha⁻¹ after the second vegetation period). The positive effect of compost application (individually or in combination with the mineral N) on decrease in mineral N leaching was found during both vegetation period in comparison with variant C2. The highest doses of compost (100 Mg per ha) significantly decreased the concentration of mineral nitrogen in the soil eluate in both periods (3.03 kg Nmin ha⁻¹ and 5.79 kg Nmin ha⁻¹, respectively), by 197% and 293% in comparison with variant C2. There is evidence that the application of compost has a positive effect on the reduction of Nmin leaching.
... Soil quality has quite different meanings to different soil scientists (Blum 1998, Schonholtz et. al., 2000, Wander et. al, 2002. The basic concept behind it is fitness of a soil for specific use, and is considered as the capacity of a soil to function. In an agricultural context, soil quality is defined as "the soil's fitness to support crop growth without resulting in soil degradation or otherwise harming the environment" (Acton and Gregorich, 1995) and often d ...
Abstract:
The Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, owns an experimental research station located in Abis area (AbisERS), Southern East Alexandria City, with a total area of 209.6 ha. Over the years, numerous research studies were conducted on AbisERS. However, lack of a comprehensive historical database to document land and crop management practices and the related soil productivity is apparent. The present study aims to develop a geo-info-base assessing soil quality/productivity and sustainability based on the soil management practices. Surface soil samples were collected from 153 geo-referenced locations and analyzed to obtain major soil quality/productivity indicators. QuickBird satellite image and geographic information system (GIS) were utilized to build a digital geo-referenced database to develop soil quality indicator maps. Moreover, stepwise multiple regression analysis was applied to identify factors affecting the soil productivity. Other data was extracted from previous work of Darwish (1977) and Al-Attar (1980) and the available farm records.
Results showed high variations in all measured soil indicators within the AbisERS. The salinity/sodicity indicator map showed that 19 % of the area was non-saline/non-sodic, 55 % moderate-saline/non-sodic, and 26 % was saline-sodic soils. As an average, the soil salinity increased from 2.3 ± 0.9 in 1977 to 4.6 ± 5.4 dS/m in 2007, reflecting low efficient management practices that control soil salinization. The SAR also increased from 4.6 ± 1.8 in 1977 to 6.0 ± 5.2 in 2007. The low efficiency of the drainage system resulted in fluctuating water table and increase soil salinity/sodicity risks. The study also revealed unbalanced use of nutrients. P was infrequently and insufficiently applied during the last 20 years. Therefore, soil available P was lowered to the deficiency level in 63.6 % of the area and was correlated with wheat yield. Soil Organic matter content (OM) averaged 2.6% ± 0.2% in 1977 that reduced to 1.9 ± 0.6% in 2007.
Based on the available soil and crop data, it was evident that soil productivity is low. Wheat and rice yields did not exceed 4.3 and 4.5 Mg/ha, respectively. These yields were generally lower than the average- national yields of both crops. The gap between the actual and the attainable yields of wheat and rice might be as wide as 3.0 and 4.5 Mg/ha, respectively. Multiple regression analysis for soil properties and yield indicated that soil salinity (EC), P, and OM were among the most soil properties limiting crop yield. Soil deterioration and nutrient depletion observed in this study could be explained mostly by agriculture management practices followed on AbisERS.
... Soil Fertility management in organic farming relies on a long-term integrated approach rather than the more short-term very targeted solutions common in conventional agriculture [22]. Increasing soil organic matter content through the addition of organic amendments has proven to be a valuable practice for maintaining or restoring soil quality [23]. Organic agriculture relies greatly on building soil organic matter with compost typically replacing inorganic fertilizers and animal manure as the fertility source of choice [24]. ...
Recent fi ndings of some scientists revealed that soils under organic production systems are generallyrich in organic matter and biological activity in comparison to conventional farming system. Currentstudy aimed to clarify present conditions in Georgia, where organic farming is just expanding and thepopulation as well as farmers are not always aware what kind of benefi t organic production brings andwhat is a real difference in farm management system giving priority to organic system over conventionalone in long term perspective. Conducted research compared two different, organic and conventional,framing systems by chemical indicators of soil fertility under vegetable production. Our study hasshown a signifi cant improvement in soil fertility under organic production system, which is a long termeffect of organic management practice.
... This is because the losses of natural capital due to soil erosion or degradation are invisible in conventional economic accounts, and not included directly in the costs of food production (Doran and Zeiss, 2000). Recent efforts in the USA have prioritized the development of soil quality (SQ) assessment strategies that would be used by individual farmers (Wander et al., 2002). Quantitative (based on soil analysis) and qualitative (based on farmer interviews) indicators were defined based on their sensitivity to change. ...
The long-term cultivation of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plant in the Sindoro mountainous zone of Central Java has resulted in soil quality degradation that could affect economic development in the region if sustainable production practices are not identified. The objective of the study was to identify appropriate indicators for assessing soil quality on tobacco plant. The quantitative soil quality indicators were total organic-C, pH, available P and available K (chemical), soil depth, bulk density, AWC (available water capacity) and soil aggregate stability (physical), and qCO2 (soil respiration), MBC (microbial biomass carbon) (biological). The decreases in the soil aggregate stability, available water capacity, cation exchange capacity, soil respiration, microbial biomass carbon and total organic-C; or increases in bulk density (compaction), available P, available K and total nitrogen indicated the decrease in soil quality due to long-term tobacco production. The result of this research showed that the change of soil quality had occurred in Sindoro Mountain. The Soil Quality Index (SQI) for three land use systems in Sindoro mountain (forest, mixed farm, and tobacco) were 0.60, 0.47, and 0.57, respectively. The comparison of these rates with soil quality classes showed that the soil quality presented moderate to good level of quality; class SQI.
... Para la evaluación de la calidad del suelo se han desarrollado funciones que agrupan indicadores físicos y químicos del suelo, los cuales se evalúan mediante rangos y tablas de puntaje, expresando la aptitud del suelo para la producción vegetal o animal (Wander et al. 2002). ...
Siamese oranges are one of the most widely developed horticultural crops in Indonesia. Arjosari and Ngadirojo are some of the sub-districts that produce Siamese orange in Pacitan Regency. One of the factors that can affect the development of citrus is land quality. This study aims to obtain land quality index data and improvement efforts for developing Siamese orange. Soil samples were taken from 25 land mapping units (LMUs) with 87 sample points. The soil sampling points were determined based on area or sampling density. Data analysis used for soil quality assessment includes correlation, principal component analysis (PCA), minimum data set (MDS), and calculation of climate quality index. The parameters used in this study are bulk density, porosity, moisture content, texture, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), cation exchange capacity (CEC), base saturation, total N, available P, available K, soil organic carbon (SOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), evapotranspiration, temperature, and solar radiation. Based on the results of soil quality analysis in the study area, it has a value range of 0.28 to 0.37, including low class, while the climate quality index is 1.39 with moderate class. The land quality index has a very low to low class with a value of 0.39 to 0.51. Intrinsic, extrinsic, and anthropogenic factors can influence soil quality. The study area’s limiting factors for developing Siamese oranges are EC, total N, and available P, which can be improved by making furrow ponds, adding organic fertilizer, using urea fertilizer, and SP36 according to the dosage.
Disaster is any natural and man-made (anthropogenic) adverse event that results in mass destruction and the ecosystem as a whole. Disasters like catastrophes, earthquakes, avalanches, cyclones, droughts, landslides, floods, hailstorms and fires occur worldwide due to deforestation, climate change, mining activity, soil erosion and tectonic movements. Moreover, these disasters not only limit crop production but also decline the quality of the soil. In this regard, numerous management measures have been adopted to regulate or control all forms of disasters by maintaining soil properties, i.e., soil texture, soil water and soil aggregation. Further, soil quality is improved and exhibits resilience to disasters when soil properties are suitable. Therefore, assessment of soil quality is crucial to improve crop production and conservation of natural resources and can help as a tool for agricultural executives and policymakers to gain a better understanding of how the soil properties reduce or minimize the risk of disasters. This chapter summarizes the accessible information regarding the role of soil science, particularly soil properties, in mitigating all kinds of disasters. In addition, it also describes the conservation of soil resources to control or minimize the chances of disasters in future.
The research aims at providing multiÂfunction both irrigation and fertilizer appliÂcations (fertigation) and calculates the producÂtion of shoots and evaluated plant health during dry season. This research was carried out on Gambung Research Station using clone GMB7. Randomized block design was used in this study with six treatments and four replications. The treatments i.e. a. control (without irrigation, without fertilization); b. without irrigation, ferÂtiÂlization through the soil; c. irrigation 7 mm/day every 3 days (without fertilization); d. irrigation 7 mm/day every 6 days (without fertilization); e. fertigation 7 mm/day every 3 days; and f. fertigation 7 mm/day every 6 days. Observations were made from September-October 2014 with 4 times of plucking. All treatments were significantly different on the yield, number of both pecco and banji. The fertigation treatment using 21 mm of water (7 mm/day every 3 days) showed the highest shoot production of 15,56%. The highest number of pecco shoots and ratio of the number pecco/number of banji in treatment using 21 mm of water (7 mm/day every 3 days) of 32,25%. The highest number of banji found in the control treatment (without irrigation without fertilization) was 74,94%. From this research it can be concluded that the fertigation treatment can give good impact to production maintain and plant health in the dry season.
The research had been done in 2009, between May 14 – June 15, having as biological material four new sweet cherry cultivars with medium maturation (‘Bucium ’, ‘Ştefan’, ‘Iaşirom’ and ‘Radu’), where it had in view the changes of some physical and chemical parameters during maturation. There had been made determinations about the equatorial diameter and about the fruit’s weight in three stages corresponding to some different maturation stages sized between 30 and 56 days after full bloom. There had been recorded changes of these parameters between the first and the third maturation stage in this way: the fruit’s weight increase on ‘Ştefan’ from 1.81 g at 30 days after full bloom to 7.27 g at 56 days after full bloom; the equatorial diameter increase on ‘Bucium’ from 12.67 mm to 22.25 mm. The soluble dry substance (DS%) determination had been made in 2 stages sized between 43 and 56 days after full bloom. At ‘Bucium’ had been recorded an increase of DS from 12.8% to 15.25%.
de Künstlerische Projekte können eigenständig zu einer kollektiven Bodenbewusstseinsbildung und zur Vermittlung von Bodenwissen beitragen. Eine sinnliche und eindrückliche Bodenwahrnehmung, wie sie in den hier erwähnten künstlerischen Auseinandersetzungen beispielhaft evoziert wird, kann in der Öffentlichkeit zu einem gesteigerten Verantwortungsgefühl für die Belange des Bodenschutzes führen. Künstlerische Methoden ergänzen den technologisch-wissenschaftlichen Bereich der Bodenwahrnehmung (Soil Sensing) mit dem Ziel einer ganzheitlichen Betrachtung des Bodens als Körper. In diesem Kapitel befassen wir uns mit künstlerischen Fallbeispielen, in welchen Sinneswahrnehmung als zentrales Mittel zur Steigerung eines Bodenbewusstseins eingesetzt wird.
Abstract
en Artistic projects can independently contribute to raising soil awareness as well as generating and communicating soil knowledge. A multisensory perception of soil, as evoked in the artistic examples described here, can lead to an increased sense of responsibility for soil health among the general public. Artistic methods complement the techno-scientific field of soil sensing and soil morphometrics with the aim of connecting human bodies to soils as natural bodies. In this chapter, we look at artistic case studies that focus on different aspects of sensory perception as a central means of increasing soil awareness.
Over the past 25 or so years soil health has been broadly studied, sometimes justly criticized, but commonly accepted and appreciated by stakeholders. Rather than follow the approach from over the last 10 to 15 years of concentrating on details of soil health indicators and agglomerated indices, recent publications have instead begun to analyze broader questions that have never really been satisfactorily answered, including questions about the rationale, limitations, and true meaning of soil health. This article joins the trend toward deeper analysis by examining the literature to propose the following: (1) why soil health is important, whether approached from a critical zone perspective or some other viewpoint; (2) more closely linking soil health and a critical zone approach to material fluxes, thereby informing how, where, and when soil health should be measured; (3) a clearer definition of the meaning of soil health in local relative terms; and (4) a stronger linkage between soil health and sustainability. The goal of this proposal is not to develop a specific conceptual model, but rather to spur further discussion leading to a more solid definition and description, which may in turn lead to more robust and broadly applicable approaches to understanding and measuring soil health.
This chapter provides a brief overview of soil health assessment and summarizes the development of the indexes for assessing soil health. An assessment framework facilitates comparison of results from similar soils and production environments to determine where a field may be on a soil health continuum. The primary soil health indicator for quantifying the water entry function is the infiltration rate, which has secondary effects reflected by surface crusting, surface roughness, soil macroporosity, and crop residue cover. Most soil health assessment frameworks utilize spreadsheets, but Agroecosystem Performance Assessment Tool is a software tool developed to assess relative soil management effects on multiple indicators of agricultural sustainability, including soil health. The comprehensive assessment of soil health framework, initially known as the Cornell Assessment of Soil Health was developed at Cornell University and designed to offer a comprehensive set of soil measurements to support soil and crop management decisions and associated applied research.
Land continuously planted with corn will decrease land quality. Good land quality is needed to support soil function as a growing medium and keep a sustainable environment. This research was aimed to identify the soil quality index at land unit planted with corn in Mungka, ,Lima Puluh Kota Regency. This research used an explorative descriptive method through land survey and soil analyses in the laboratory. The samples were taken based on purposive random sampling at each land unit under the same slope (8%). There were three land units being sampled, and those were corn-corn, corn-eggplant, and corn-cassava cropping pattern. Corn-corn ropping pattern had the best soil quality index (0.89), followed by corn-cassava (0.86), and corn-eggplant (0.85) on the top 20 cm soil depth. On the 20-40 cm soil depth, the soil quality indices 0.82, 0.82, 0.83, for corn-eggplant, corn-corn, and corn-cassava cropping pattern, respectively. The quality index of the land under the corn cropping pattern was considered good either on the top 0-20 cm or 20-40 cm soil depth. This was due to the addition of organic matter from poultry manure to the land regularly. Based on this research, it is recommended to apply OM regularly to corn cropping pattern to keep a good soil quality index.
Soil quality is closely related to environment because soil is not only viewed as a growing media for plants but also encompasses various environmental and health functions. It is important to know the quality of soil in order to keep it healthy, productive, and optimally functioning. This research aims to evaluate soil quality status in various land uses and to learn the land factors that are related to soil quality. Soil quality index (SQI) represents the soil quality status. SQI will then be used as the basis for soil management. A descriptive explorative research study was carried out in the Giritontro Sub-district, Wonogiri District, Indonesia. SQI indicators were obtained from 12 existing Land Mapping Units (LMU). SQI was obtained by determining the Minimum Data Set (MDS) with a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) test. Then SQI was mapped and statistically analyzed to determine the influence of land use and the determinant factors of SQI. Results showed that SQI in all area is class 3 or moderate. SQI was significantly influenced by land use. SQI in paddy field is 9.09% higher than crop fields and 2.27% higher than of plantations. Indicators which are significantly related to SQI are bulk density, porosity, cation exchange capacity, available P, available K and microbial biomass carbon (MBC). The type of soil management that can be implemented to improve soil quality includes addition of organic or inorganic fertilizer and adoption of an agroforestry system.
Soil-forest productivity has been studied over decades, especially for North American boreal forests; however, there has been little effort to quantitatively incorporate this relationship into frameworks of soil quality assessment (SQA). The need for such framework is critical as land reclamation and ecosystem restoration are expected to quantitatively demonstrate the redevelopment of functional soil-plant systems in spatial and/or temporal dimensions for closure of disturbed sites. The objective of this research was to assess three potential options for calibrating soil-forest productivity relationships into a SQA framework using scoring functions, while demonstrating applications in land reclamation. Using Alberta oil sands reclamation as a case study, soil-forest productivity was calibrated by i) stepwise regression of soil and forest productivity indicators, ii) use of GYPSY to model pre-disturbance growth trajectories while treating soil as categorical variable, and iii) use of process based models HYDRUS 1D and BIOMES-BGC to estimate soil and plant productivity parameters such as available water holding capacity, leaf area index and net primary productivity. All three approaches provided adequate data for calibrating the relationship into existing SQA frameworks producing soil quality-scoring functions (SQF), although the regression approach will require more rigorous validation and constraining of the SQF in comparison to the other two options. Applications of the SQF include temporal assessments of plant’s growth rate of reclaimed stands and testing the effect of reclamation cover design factors on forest productivity.
The intensive use of land for farming and horticulture results in soil degradation. The loss of nutrient elements contributes to the decline in soil quality index. This study aimed to investigate the major factors that contribute to soil degradation in the in the upper section of the Sumani Basin. Soil quality index is obtained as an indicator of soil functions. Thus, this study used this parameter to investigate the factors that contribute to the decrease in soil fertility. A purposeful random sampling method was used to obtain samples from different sample points. The biophysical properties of the soil samples were analyzed in the laboratory at the Department of soil science. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the samples were carried out by using a data processing application software (mini tap 17.0). These results were used to determine the Minimum Data Set (MDS) for each soil sample. This research study showed that the two types of soil obtained from the various sample points were inceptisol and andisol. The major factors that influence soil quality include bulk density, soil CEC, root depth, and soil texture. The soil sample obtained from the third farmland group (Group C) had the best soil quality.
Core Ideas
There is a need for quantitative soil quality, health, and security assessment.
Pros and cons of indication systems used in soil and ecological studies.
Axiomatic criteria advance soil quality, health, and security indices.
There are profound shortcomings of widely used soil indicators and indices.
Linking soil science and econometrics improves soil indicators/indices.
Soil scientists have worked on the conceptualization and contextualization of soil‐related notions, such as soil quality, soil health, and soil security, over the past few decades. We reviewed the massive amount of literature regarding those major concepts, and summarized definitions, visions, and constraints. Indicators (In) and indices (Ix) are well suited to aggregate soil and environmental data to assess soil quality, health, and security quantitatively. Our literature review showed that (i) more sophisticated quantification methods are necessary; (ii) often only a single soil property and/or class is modeled rather than more complex soil functions, risks, or services; (iii) there is a lack of harmonization, standardization, and reference frameworks that allow soil comparisons across regions and time; and (iv) methods frequently used to calculate soil In/Ix, such as ordination and factor analysis, do not consider rigorous axiomatic criteria of scientific sound indication systems. In summary, the complex soil concepts stand in sharp contrast to the applied indication methods in the soil science discipline. We investigated the potential to apply econometrical methods to assess soil quality, health, and security that serve as alternatives to more traditional In/Ix in soil science. A case study demonstrated the profound transformative potential of linking econometrics–soil–environmental sciences.
Nowadays contaminated soil has become a major and priority problem, and therefore, during the last four decades many countries have been introducing policies and practices for the management of contaminated soil. In Portugal the water and air pollution have always deserved a greater attention and therefore the regulatory system for contaminated soil remains largely undeveloped, leading to a lack of a framework in terms of policy, including incentives, administrative infrastructures and capacity, as well as the development and implementation of techniques for soil remediation. Since the 1970’s Portugal possesses a law for soil regulation, which is completely outdated and does not focus the main issues concerning soil contamination and preservation, and its environmental importance. The Decree Law No. 178/2006 constituted a first attempt to fill the lack on existing legislation concerning soil contamination, creating a general waste management regime (“RGR”), and setting up the legal framework required to give pursuit to decontamination actions and defining waste management taxation (“TGR”). Unfortunately, it seems that Portugal is still far away from having a “real” legislative regulation for soil protection. It was recently published Law No. 31/2014 that is mainly concerned with soil management, planning, and urbanism. The Legal Regime of Territorial Management Tools (“RJIGT”) approved by Decree-Law No. 80/2015, which undertook a profound reform in what concerns the land classification model, eliminating the operative category of urbanizable land, and being mainly concerned with soil management, planning, and urbanism. The Legal Regime for Urbanization and Edification (established by Decree-Law No. 555/99) was amended by Decree-Law No. 214-G/2015 developing the bases for the Legal System of Territorial Management Instruments (“RJUE”). This Decree-Law also introduces a substantial revision of the Code of Administrative Procedure (“CPA”) and introduces changes to various separate pieces of legislation that regulate or are connected with administrative procedures in order to bring them into line with the amendments to the CPA. It is crucial for any country the development of a harmonious, cohesive, integrated and sustainable territorial urban plan, but it should never be forgotten the soil environmental importance for sustainability and human welfare. The main aspects of soil quality are pointed out in this work, as well as possible parameters to measures this quality, and a general overview of the development process of environmental legislation is also presented. This work also makes a brief description of the evolution of the Portuguese environmental legislation in what concerns contaminated soil.
2015, Año internacional de los suelos: Crear conciencia en la sociedad para el manejo sostenible del suelo " DIVISIÓN III 1 Edafología y Botánica Campus Montecillo, Colegio de Postgraduados. Km 36.5 Carretera México-Texcoco. 56230, Montecillo, Texcoco, Edo. de México. Tel. 01 (595) 952-0200, 01 (595) 952-0274 2 Botánica Campus Montecillo, Colegio de Postgraduados. Km 36.5 Carretera México-Texcoco. 56230, Montecillo, Texcoco, Edo. de México. Tel. 01 (595) 952-0200, 01 (595) 952-0274 *Autor para correspondencia (mels801@hotmail.com); Cedros # 9, Colonia Ampliación Nexquipayac, Nexquipayac municipio de Atenco, Estado de México. México. CP 56300 Tel. Cel. 5951096060 Resumen Se sometió a compostaje una mezcla de estiércol de ovino con paja de avena, utilizando el método de apilamiento con volteos al aire libre. La investigación se llevó acabo en el Colegio de Postgraduados Campus Montecillo, Estado de México. Con la finalidad de extraer y evaluar un inóculo de las fases del proceso de compostaje que reduzca el tiempo de biotransformación en compost de estiércol de ovino, se obtuvieron cinco muestras, una de cada fase del proceso, estas se conservaron en un ultra congelador, después se liofilizaron para obtener el inóculo que se agregó a los tratamientos en la segunda fase experimental, se establecieron seis tratamientos con tres repeticiones, uno contenía solo el material original (paja de avena y estiércol de ovino) y el resto de los tratamientos se les adiciono el inóculo de las diferentes fases del proceso del compostaje, se colocaron en una cámara donde se mantuvo la humedad y temperatura controlada, a la par se colocaron frascos con material de los diferentes tratamientos para medir la producción diaria y acumulación de CO2, se midieron temperatura, pH, C.E, materia orgánica, nitrógeno y carbono total, la relación C:N, tamaño de partícula, densidad aparente. La variable producción de CO2 mostró diferencia significativa (P = 0.05), y demuestra que el inóculo aceleró la dinámica de los microorganismos, reduciendo el tiempo del compostaje, la calidad del compost y la madurez se garantiza a medida que disminuye la cantidad de CO2, ya que el abono orgánico presenta diferentes etapas de biotransformación. Palabras clave: Mineralización, Compost, CO2, Biotransformación, Residuos orgánicos, Introducción En la actualidad, la gran cantidad de residuos sólidos generados por las granjas de producción animal y urbanos hace necesario su tratamiento (Profepa, Semarnat, 2010). El compostaje es un método eficiente en la eliminación de estos residuos, permite el aprovechamiento del producto final (Zhu, 2000). Este proceso tiene una duración variable, ya que está relacionado con el origen de los residuos, el tamaño de partícula, disposición de la pila, aireación, humedad y población biológica activa, el período de transformación es cercano a 170 días, e implica la acumulación de gran cantidad de material en las plantas de compostaje
Saffron is one of the most important economic plants in Khorasan province. Awareness of soil quality in agricultural lands is essential to best management of lands and to obtain maximum economical benefit. In general, plant growth is a function of environmental factors especially chemical and physical properties of soil (20). It has been demonstrated that there was a positive and high correlation between soil organic matter and saffron yield. Increasing the yield of saffron due to organic matter is probably due to soil nutrient, especially phosphorous and nitrogen and also improvement soil physical quality (6, 28, 29). The yield of saffron in soils with high nitrogen as a result of vegetative growth is high (8). Shahandeh (6) found that most variation of saffron yield depends on soil properties. Since the economical importance of saffron and the role of soil properties on saffron yield, this research was conducted to find the relationship between Saffron yield and some soil physical and chemical properties, and to determine the contribution of soil properties that have the greatest impact on saffron yield in Ghayenat area.
Material and methods
This research was performed in 30 saffron fields (30 soil samples) of Ghayenat area (longitude 59o 10ʹ 10.37ʺ - 59o 11ʹ 38.41ʺ and latitude 33o 43ʹ 35.08ʺ - 33o 44ʹ 02.78ʺ), which is located in khorasan province of Iran. In this research 21 soil properties were regarded as total data set (TDS). Then the principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the most important soil properties affecting the saffron yield as a minimum data set (MDS) and the stepwise regression to estimate the saffron yield. To estimate the yield of saffron in stepwise regression method, the saffron yield considered as a dependent variable and soil physical and chemical properties as independent variables.
Results and discussion
According to the PCA method, among the 21 studied properties, 7 out of them including Calcium, iron, zinc contents, sand, calcium carbonate equivalent percent, mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD) and manganese (Mn) had the higher Eigenvalues, therefore the above properties were introduced as the most important soil properties in Saffron fields. Calcium carbonate had the negative effect on availability of micro-nutrients (26). Christensen et al. (15) found that by increasing the calcium carbonate in soil due to high pH and formation of insoluble components, the uptake of micro-nutrients especially is limited.
The results of stepwise regression method (equation 1) showed that soil acidity (pH), zinc content, bulk density, MWD, iron content, salinity (EC), organic carbon and available potassium in soil were the most important properties that affect the yield of saffron, so that determination coefficient (R2) of regression model was high (table 2) and it can explain 74% of the variation of saffron yield.
Y = 6924.51 – 1187.31 pH – 89.65 EC + 71.6 Fe – 826.02 Zn + 471.55 OC, + 5490.96 K + 1353.56 BD + 752.82 MWD (1)
Where Y: the saffron yield (kgha-1), pH is soil acidity, EC: electoral conductivity (dSm-1), Fe: iron concentration (mgkg-1), Zn: zinc concentration (mgkg-1), OC: organic carbon (%), K: soil potassium (%), BD: soil bulk density (Mgm-3), and MWD: mean weight diameter of aggregates (MM).
Based on the absolute values of standard ß in regression model (table 3), pH value and then after Zn concentration had the most effect on saffron yield. In general, responses of different plants to soil pH is varied, and saffron grows satisfactory in pH = 7.8 (5). Soil pH influences the uptake of soil nutrients by plants (15), so that this parameter had the most effect on saffron yield and by increasing the soil pH, the yield of saffron decreases. According to the regression model, Zn concentration was the second parameter on saffron yield. Zn has the important role in structure of plant enzymes (30). After these 2 parameters, Bd, MWD, Fe concentration, EC, Organic carbon and K concentration in soil had the more effect on saffron yield (table 3).
Conclusion
According to the both PCA and regression methods, the concentration of iron and zinc and MWD were determined as the important and effective soil properties on saffron yield in Ghayenat area. In addition, soil pH in stepwise regression method and calcium carbonate in PCA method were determined as the effective properties on saffron yield. Therefore, it’s suggested that the parameters of Zn, Fe, and MWD along with soil pH and calcium carbonate which regarded individually in two methods, were considered as the most soil properties on saffron yield.
Soil quality is a composite measure of both a soil’s ability to function and how well it functions, relative to a specific use. Soil quality can be assessed using a minimum data set comprising soil attributes such as texture, organic matter, pH, bulk density, and rooting depth. Soil organic matter has particular significance for soil quality as it can influence many different soil properties including other attributes of the minimum data set. Assessment of soil organic matter is a valuable step towards identifying the overall quality of a soil and may be so informative as to be included in minimum data sets used to evaluate the world’s soils.In this review, soil organic matter is considered to encompass a set of attributes rather than being a single entity. Included among the attributes and discussed here are total soil organic carbon and nitrogen, light fraction and macroorganic (particulate) matter, mineralizable carbon and nitrogen, microbial biomass, soil carbohydrates and enzymes. These attributes are involved in various soil processes, such as those related to nutrient storage, biological activity, and soil structure, and can be used to establish different minimum data sets for the evaluation of soil organic matter quality. Key words: Biological activity, minimum data set, nutrient storage, soil organic matter, soil quality, soil structure
This article reconciles two notions of soil-quality indexes with the economic concepts of technical efficiency and productivity growth. An example uses data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's experimental fields in Maryland and data envelopment analysis techniques to estimate a soil-quality index consistent with the notion of technical efficiency. Common regression techniques shed additional light on the role of individual soil-quality properties in a very restricted linear approximation of the estimated soil-quality index. Copyright 1999, Oxford University Press.
Integrating ecology and economics is increasingly important as humanity's impact on the natural world increases. Current paradigms in both fields are too narrow (and seem to be getting narrower). This paper introduces and summarizes this special issue of Ecological Modeling devoted to ecological economics. There are eleven papers (including this one) that cover most of the important theoretical issues involved (applied papers are left for a future volume). These issues are: (1) sustainability; (2) inter- and intra-species distribution of wealth; (3) discounting and intergenerational justice; and (4) dealing with non-monetized values, imprecision, and incertainty. This collection is seen as a hopeful first step toward a true synthesis of ecology and economics that could lead to better management of renewable and non-renewable natural resources and a sustainable future.
Expansion and intensification of cultivation are among the predominant global changes of this century. Intensification of
agriculture by use of high-yielding crop varieties, fertilization, irrigation, and pesticides has contributed substantially
to the tremendous increases in food production over the past 50 years. Land conversion and intensification, however, also
alter the biotic interactions and patterns of resource availability in ecosystems and can have serious local, regional, and
global environmental consequences. The use of ecologically based management strategies can increase the sustainability of
agricultural production while reducing off-site consequences.
Soil survey activities in many countries have reached a crucial phase. Standard country wide surveys either have been completed or will be completed within the near future. This development implies that more attention can be paid to soil survey interpretations and applications. The opportunity to emphasize use of soil survey data is particularly timely because of a change in the type of questions being asked by users of soil survey data and because of the rapid advances in information technology. Questions have become more specific, and quantitative answers are increasingly required.
Under the Kyoto protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change the United States is charged with reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to seven percent below their 1990 levels by the period 2008-2012. These reductions could be met from many industries including agriculture. In this paper, an economic simulation model is linked to an ecosystem model to quantify the economic efficiency of policies that might be used to sequester carbon (C) in agricultural soils in the Northern Plains region. Simulations with the Century ecosystem model show that long-term soil C levels associated with a crop/fallow system are less than those for grass alone, but that soil C levels for grass-clover-pasture are greater than for continuously cropped grains. The analysis shows that a CRP-style policy is found to be an inefficient means to increase soil C because the per acre payments to convert crop-land to grass-only draw land from both the crop/fallow system and the continuous cropping system, and costs typically exceed $100 per MT (metric ton) of C. In contrast, payments to adopt continuous cropping were found to produce increases in soil C for between $5 to $70 depending on area and degree of targeting of the payments. The most efficient, lowest cost policy is achieved when payments are targeted to land that was previously in a crop/fallow rotation. In this range, soil C sequestration appears to be competitive with C sequestered from other sources.
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), and maize (Zea mays L.) provide about two-thirds of all energy in human diets, and four major cropping systems in which these cereals are grown represent the foundation of human food supply. Yield per unit time and land has increased markedly during the past 30 years in these systems, a result of intensified crop management involving improved germplasm, greater inputs of fertilizer, production of two or more crops per year on the same piece of land, and irrigation. Meeting future food demand while minimizing expansion of cultivated area primarily will depend on continued intensification of these same four systems. The manner in which further intensification is achieved, however, will differ markedly from the past because the exploitable gap between average farm yields and genetic yield potential is closing. At present, the rate of increase in yield potential is much less than the expected increase in demand. Hence, average farm yields must reach 70-80% of the yield potential ceiling within 30 years in each of these major cereal systems. Achieving consistent production at these high levels without causing environmental damage requires improvements in soil quality and precise management of all production factors in time and space. The scope of the scientific challenge related to these objectives is discussed. It is concluded that major scientific breakthroughs must occur in basic plant physiology, ecophysiology, agroecology, and soil science to achieve the ecological intensification that is needed to meet the expected increase in food demand.
Soil organic matter (SOM) has a large influence on the long-term sustainability of soil systems and the ecosystems and landscapes they support (Follett et al., 1987). SOM conservation and enhancement have positive effects on plant nutrient status, soil structure, and soil water holding capacity (DeJong et al., 1983; Soane, 1990; Kern and Johnson, 1993). The beneficial impacts of these factors on plant productivity create a positive feedback loop between net primary production (NPP) and C sequestration (Fig. 5.1).
Corn (Zea mays L.) predominates in the central USA but grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] may be preferable for cover crop systems. Effects of tillage (no-till and disk), cover crops, gain crop, planting date, and N fertilizer rate were investigated to compare grain sorghum and corn in cover crop systems. This 2-yr field study was conducted at Fisher, IL, on an Ashkum silty clay loam (fine, mixed, mesic Typic Haplaquolls); Toledo, IL, on a Cisne silt loam (fine, montmorillonitic, mesic Mollic Albaqualf); and Albion, IL, on a Belknap silt loam (coarse silty, mixed, mesic Aeric Fluventic Haplaquepts). Grain yield was not affected by tillage [...]
Publisher Summary The chapter describes the history of the Morrow Plots and the effects of their experimental treatments on corn yield and soil variables. Statistical analyses of the complete yield and soil organic matter (SOM) record are presented. The chapter considers the trends in response to rotation and fertility treatments applied during the main phases of the Morrow Plots' history. Yield responses simultaneously reflect changing soil productivity levels and the immediate effects of improved technology and weather. By analyzing soil variables, soil organic C, total N, pH, P, and K throughout the trial's history, the chapter explores the long-term effects of treatments on the system's productive potential. Changes in the Morrow Plots' treatments have provided an empirical basis upon which one can evaluate the several phases in agricultural history. Findings have shown that production is greater where soil condition is maintained, and that use of mineral fertilizers has offset to large extent losses in soil productivity.
This essay summarizes deliberation by the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Ad Hoc Committee on Soil Quality (S-581) and was written to spur discussion among SSSA members. Varying perceptions of soil quality have emerged since the concept was suggested in the early 1990s, and dialogue among members is important because, unlike air and water quality, legislative standards for soil quality have not been and perhaps should not be defined. In simplest terms, soil quality is "the capacity (of soil) to function". This definition, based on function, reflects the living and dynamic nature of soil. Soil quality can be conceptualized as a three-legged stool, the function and balance of which requires an integration of three major components - sustained biological productivity, environmental quality, and plant and animal health. The concept attempts to balance multiple soil uses (e.g., for agricultural production, remediation of wastes, urban development, forest, range, or recreation) with goals for environmental quality. Assessing soil quality will require collaboration among all disciplines of science to examine and interpret their results in the context of land management strategies, interactions, and trade-offs. Society is demanding solutions from science. Simply measuring and reporting the response of an individual soil parameter to a given perturbation or management practice is no longer sufficient. The soil resource must be recognized as a dynamic living system that emerges through a unique balance and interaction of its biological, chemical, and physical components. We encourage SSSA members to consider the concept of soil quality (perhaps as a marketing tool) and to debate how it might enable us to more effectively meet the diverse natural resource needs and concerns of our rural, urban, and suburban clientele of today and tomorrow.
Several long-term studies suggest that no-till (NT) practices do not increase soil organic matter (SOM) sequestration in all situations. We evaluated the interaction of tillage and soil texture effects on SOM in Illinois Mollisols and Alfisols by characterizing particulate organic matter (POM), potentially mineralizable N (PMN), and soil microbial biomass (SMB). Thirty-six fields were sampled during spring and summer of 1995 and 1996. Each field had been under either conventional tillage (CT) (disc, moldboard plow, and/or chisel plow) or NT management for at least 5 yr. No-till fields contained 15% (3.0 g C kg -1 soil) more soil organic C (SOC) than CT fields in the 0- to 5-cm depth; however, tillage did not affect SOC contents in the 5- to t5- or 15- to 30-cm depths, or in the overall sampling depth (0-30 cm). Fields under NT contained 33% more POM (1.4 g C kg -1 soil) and 54% more PMN in the 0- to 5-cm depth, but there was no tillage effect on POM (0-15 cm) or PMN (0-30 cm) contents overall. Average POM contents were 29% lower (0.73 g C kg -1 soil) in the 5- to 15-cm depth of the NT than of the CT soils. At sand contents below 50 g kg -1 soil, NT fields contained greater SOC, total N, and POM contents in the 0- to 5-cm depth and lower POM contents in the 5- to 15-cm depth than CT fields. In soils with sand contents higher than 50 g kg -1 soil, tillage practices did not affect the vertical distribution of SOC, total N, or POM.
Protecting the ability of the soil resource to operate for the benefit of all biological entities is a necessary and unarguable goal. Soils are central to life, and the processes that occur in soils are crucial components of the global ecosystem. Protecting these resources from deterioration as a result of human activities is the present focus of many, not only in the scientific community, but in society at-large. Ecologists, climatologists, hydrologists and, of course, agriculturalists are well aware of the importance of protecting soil quality. So too, have land-use planners, public works engineers, water quality specialists, and fertilizer and pesticide dealers become aware of the importance of maintaining the ability of soil to sustain plant growth, infiltrate and redistribute water and chemicals, and act as natural biological filters. The dynamic processes that exist in a soil system are the determinants of the soil's condition, or quality, at any one time. These dynamic processes determine the potential of the soil to, for example, redistribute water, allow gas exchange, and bear a load at a specific time. Prediction of soil quality most project the effect of these dynamic processes in current or proposed management systems, if soil quality is to be maintained or enhanced.
Successful soil quality assessment strategies are needed to improve our ability to manage soils sustainably. Our objective was to use a multivariate data set to determine whether recent adoption of no-tillage (NT) practices had altered soil quality in Illinois. In 1995 and 1996, we sampled thirty-six farm fields under conventional tillage (CT) or NT practices and relatively nondisturbed (ND) areas. Soils were Mollisols or Alfisols. Tillage or region affected 20 of the 23 parameters characterized. Soil chemical parameters were less variable than biological or physical measures. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to assess soil quality overall. Principal component 1 (PC1) scores, which explained 39% of the total variance of the overall data set, were affected by tillage (ND > NT > CT) and increased with particulate and organic C and total N, biological activity, mineralizable N, and wet aggregate stability, and decreased with bulk density and dry aggregate mean weight diameter. The only significant factor contributing to PC2 was penetration resistance; PC2 explained 13% of the variance and decreased as follows: NT ≥ ND > CT. Multivariate assessment of soil quality indicated use of NT practices improved the biological and physical condition of the soil (0-15 cm) despite increased consolidation. It also showed that those biological and physical aspects of soils influenced by organic matter were the properties most altered by agronomic practices. Particulate organic matter (POM) was identified as a promising soil quality measure. A next step is to determine the biological and environmental relevance of a refined set of soil quality measures in conjunction with soil processes of regional concern.
The Illinois Soil Quality Initiative (ISQI) is a multidisciplinary effort to develop accurate, practical, and meaningful measures of soil characteristics that farmers can incorporate in strategies to sustain soil resources over the long term. We discuss how the project integrates soils and social research and involves farmers and others in guiding its research activities. A board of farmers, farm managers and conservation agency personnel and a panel of soil scientists, agronomists, and social scientists established ISQI's goals and monitors its progress. ISQI technical staff gather data at 35 participating farms to assess the accuracy and practicality of several measures of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of soils under varying tillage and environmental conditions. They communicate findings to farmers and the ISQI board through regional farmer meetings, a project newsletter, and statewide conferences. Participating farmers assess the measures' meaningfulness and practicality, suggest strategies for communicating soil quality information, and recommend new directions for research. These observations have been made at the end of ISQI's first year: definitions of and beliefs about soil quality vary widely, making it inadvisable to think of “soil quality” as a single, inclusive concept; farmers and other land managers want to understand better the relationships among soil qualities, productivity, and sustainability, and to ham how to enhance their soils' structural and biological characteristics; soil quality measures must be accompanied by research and education on how soil qualities are affected by management practices or systems and how they affect yields and the environment; many farmers are only mildly interested in self-administered soil quality measures, preferring instead to purchase such data from commercial sources.
Anticipated advances in biotechnology and sustainable land management, in combination with the availability of high-quality lands, suggest a level of food production that will sustain twice the current global population. However, lack of political will, insufficient investments in modern agriculture, and a general apathy to the tenets of sustainable land management threaten food security in Third World countries, and in some, contribute to poverty and famine. From a global land-productivity point of view, the specter of Malthusian scenarios seems unwarranted. Sadly, however, local and regional food shortages are likely to continue to occur unless mechanisms for equitable food distribution, effective technical assistance, and infusions of capital for infrastructure development are implemented in some developing countries.
Different chemical, physical, and biological properties of a soil interact in complex ways that determine its potential fitness or capacity to produce healthy and nutritious crops. The integration of these properties andine resulting level of productivity often is referred to as “soil quality.” Soil quality can be defined as an inherent attribute of a soil that is inferred from its specific characteristics and observations (e.g., compactability, erodibility, and fertility). The term also refers to the soil's structural integrity, which imparts resistance to erosion, and to the loss of plant nutrients and organic matter. Soil quality often is related to soil degradation, which can be defined as the time rate of change in soil quality.
Soil quality should not be limited to soil productivity, but should encompass environmental quality, human and animal health, and food safety and quality. There is inadequate reliable information on how changes in soil quality directly affect food quality, or indirectly affect human and animal health. In characterizing soil quality, biological properties have received less emphasis than chemical and physical properties, because their effects are difficult to measure, predict, or quantify. Improved soil quality often is indicated by increased infiltration, aeration, macropores, aggregate size, aggregate stability, and soil organic matter, and by decreased bulk density, soil resistance, erosion, and nutrient runoff. These are useful, but future research should seek to identify and quantify reliable and meaningful biological/ecological indicators of soil quality, such as total species diversity or genetic diversity of beneficial soil microorganisms, insects, and animals.
Because these biological/ecological indexes of soil quality are dynamic, they will require effective monitoring and assessment programs to develop appropriate databases for research and technology transfer. We need to know how such indexes are affected by management inputs, whether they can serve as early warning indicators of soil degradation, and how they relate to the sustainability of agricultural systems.
The book eDtitled "Soil and Water Quality: AD Agenda for Agriculture" by the U.S. National Academy of ScieDces caused people to ask whether soil quality assessments could be used to evaluate the impact of public policies such as the CODservation Reserve Program (CRP). However, differeDces in scale, per-ceptioD of soil quality, aDd the inability to directly measure soil quality led to significaDt uncertainty amoDg several poteDtial users. A major chaUeDge was determiDiDg how to evaluate aDd combiDe iDformatioD from differeDt indicators to make aD overaU soil quality assessmeDt that is meaDingfuL Our objec-tives are to preseDt a structured approach for iDterpretiDg soil quality iDdicator data aDd to introduce a cODceptuai frame-work that caD be used to link the various scales of evaluatioD, iDcludiDg those Deeded for assessing effectiveDess of public policies such as the CRP. The framework aDd its use are dis-cussed aDd demoDstrated usiDg soil quality iDdicator data from published aDd uDpublished studies. OD-farm measuremeDts suggest that biological indicators such as microbial biomass aDd respiratioD were affected most quickly aDd to the greatest exteDt wheD cultivated IaDd was cODverted to grasslaDd. ApplyiDg the cODceptual framework to this data suggests that eDroUing fragile IaDds iDto CRP had a positive soil quality effect. It also iDdicates that usiDg Do-tiU practices to return CRP IaDd to row-crop productioD will preserve soil quality beDefits of the CRP, but tiDing to prepare a seedbed will destroy the beDefits almost immediately.
Decision aids are needed to identify management strategies for complex agricultural problems affecting numerous stakeholders. Our objective was to develop a bioeconomic decision aid examining poultry litter application to winter squash, Cucurbita maxima, on the basis of multiple goals: enhancing environmental and soil quality, maximizing waste recycling, and maximizing net revenues. Because farm-level decisions about waste management may conflict with community goals, the decision aid balances the preferences of squash growers, poultry producers, and community-level decision makers. The aid utilizes a simulation model that compares four litter management alternatives: (1) fresh poultry litter applied to meet crop nitrogen (N) needs; (2) fresh poultry litter applied to meet crop phosphorus (P) needs; (3) composted poultry litter to meet crop N needs; and (4) composted poultry litter to meet crop P needs. Output from biophysical submodels compares well to literature data. Sensitivity tests show strong correlation between nutrient accumulation in soil pools and estimates of potentially available nutrients in fresh and composted litter. The decision model outcome, when averaged across stakeholder groups, clearly favors composted litter applied to meet crop P needs. Decision aids can help various stakeholder groups see how their priorities interact as well as demonstrate the importance of long-term analysis to assess alternative management strategies.
Soil quality is not a purchased technology; instead, it is a concept that can be used in making land management decisions. Researchers have generally agreed upon the soil properties that determine soils’ capacity to function and have emphasized that soil quality must be understood in context. Soil quality research has included the following: (1) soil management research, where the effects of management on soil properties and dependent processes are assessed; (2) measurement development for soil quality assessment to be carried out by the farmers themselves, by advisors, or consultants and (3) systems assessments, that consider the physical and cultural contexts that impact soil quality decision-making. Because stewards of the land ultimately determine whether soil quality is improved, maintained, or diminished, many research projects in the US have included the active participation of farmers in efforts to develop the soil quality concept. More effort has been spent on soil management and on the development and testing of farmer oriented measurements than on system assessments. There is growing consensus that the development of soil quality assessments to be used by farmers to solve problems within individual fields will be challenging. Organic matter and organic matter-dependent properties are the most promising indicators for use in a soil quality assessment where the information will be used in management decisions. Unfortunately, the successful development of on-farm measures may not be sufficient to guarantee that soil quality is maintained because there is a mismatch in the temporal and physical scales over which soil quality and farm security are achieved. Educational materials that highlight soil contributions to farm, landscape and global functioning coupled with dialoguing between practitioners, scientists, and policy-makers can communicate the importance of soil quality to sustainability. Successful soil quality efforts will relate soil properties to soil function in a way that fosters stewardship among individuals and builds public support for polices that promote soil management to ensure agriculture, industry, and the natural environment are sustained. Strategies and priorities are expected to vary according to audience, land-use constraints and the intended scale of application.
Attempts to reduce land degradation by influencing the management behaviour of farmers will be better informed when the relative importance of factors influencing the use of ‘conservation’ practices aimed at enhancing longer-term land productivity can be quantified. Land managers' perceptions of the technical feasibility and profitability of such practices will play an important role in the decisions about their use. Of particular interest is the relative importance of an individual's perceptions of the profitability of conservation behaviours and the individual's conservation orientation. In a pretest-post test study the influence of prior perceptions about two ‘conservation’ practices, and of environmental orientation, on the subsequent behaviour of farmers is investigated. A logistic regression model is developed to show the relative influence of perceptions of profitability and technical feasibility and of personal environmental concern on the choice of conservation practices. Perceived profitability was the most important factor influencing the use of conservation practices.
The recent intensification of agriculture, and the prospects of future intensification, will have major detrimental impacts on the nonagricultural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the world. The doubling of agricultural food production during the past 35 years was associated with a 6.87-fold increase in nitrogen fertilization, a 3.48-fold increase in phosphorus fertilization, a 1.68-fold increase in the amount of irrigated cropland, and a 1.1-fold increase in land in cultivation. Based on a simple linear extension of past trends, the anticipated next doubling of global food production would be associated with approximately 3-fold increases in nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization rates, a doubling of the irrigated land area, and an 18% increase in cropland. These projected changes would have dramatic impacts on the diversity, composition, and functioning of the remaining natural ecosystems of the world, and on their ability to provide society with a variety of essential ecosystem services. The largest impacts would be on freshwater and marine ecosystems, which would be greatly eutrophied by high rates of nitrogen and phosphorus release from agricultural fields. Aquatic nutrient eutrophication can lead to loss of biodiversity, outbreaks of nuisance species, shifts in the structure of food chains, and impairment of fisheries. Because of aerial redistribution of various forms of nitrogen, agricultural intensification also would eutrophy many natural terrestrial ecosystems and contribute to atmospheric accumulation of greenhouse gases. These detrimental environmental impacts of agriculture can be minimized only if there is much more efficient use and recycling of nitrogen and phosphorus in agroecosystems.
Comparative cropping systems
- Lohr L.
Editor's note. Special issue on soil quality
- Youngberg G.
- Greenland D.J.