Soil Quality

This paper considers features underlying conservation-effective agricultural systems' impacts, because they can explain present successes, suggest guidelines for future initiatives, and indicate criteria for judging their effectiveness. Once farmers have made the transition in awareness, thinking and practice of Conservation Agriculture (CA), positive benefits which attract farmers include savings in time, labour, energy and expenditure, with increased productivity and profit

Phuleli Canal (Sindh) Pakistan is the main source of irrigation water for lower Sindh. However, its quality has
been deteriorated by the addition of industrial effluents and city wastes discharged directly or indirectly into canal when it
passes through Hyderabad city. For monitoring the effect of this canal water on soil quality of the command area, the
present study was designed to evaluate the seasonal variability of trace metals including Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn in the
cultivated soil area. The soil samples were collected from different seven sites (reduced distance, RD = 304.8 m) RD-0,
RD-30, RD-50, RD-70, RD-90, RD-110 and RD-130) in four seasons (summer, autumn, winter, and spring) and analysed
for Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn contents. Then, the obtained results were compared with the maximum permissible values of FAO
for agriculture/crop production. Results showed that the Zn contents in soil samples was relatively higher than FAO
permissible limits during winter in all soil layers and all sites mostly at upper reach sites of Phuleli Command area. While,
the Fe content in soil at all depths was found higher during winter, autumn and spring. Whereas, in summer season it
was relatively more in upper soil layers near mid to down reach sites and were not within the permissible limits of FAO.
Same was true with Cu and Mn which were also not within the permissible limits of FAO for crop production. So, it was
inferred that almost of the locations trace elements in soils found higher under Phuleli Canal Command area were mainly
produced from various pollution sources viz, industrial and municipal liquid effluents.

Ensuring acceptance of dedicated biomass feedstocks by landowners, agricultural communities, environmental and public interest groups, requires that the environmental benefits, concerns, and risks associated with their production be quantified. Establishment and management measures to benefit soil and water quality are being identified by ongoing research. Field studies are showing that nutrients are retained within the rooting zone of dedicated feedstocks, subsurface herbicide transport does not occur, and off-site chemical transport is minimal compared with traditional agricultural crops. The amounts and timing of fertilizer application were critical to minimizing off- site transport of nutrients. Maintaining soil cover decreased runoff, sediment losses, and nutrient transport compared with traditional agricultural crops. Conversion of traditional croplands to biomass and no-till crop production improved soil quality and soil carbon storage. Subsurface nutrient losses were less fr...

Cropping systems in Western Australia (WA) are strongly dominated by cereals (wheat, barley and oaten hay) and are inextricably linked to soil quality and moisture supply. So a major research challenge is to devise cropping systems that improve soil health and maximise water-use efficiency. For a profitable and sustainable production system there is a clear need for ‘break crop’ to provide a pest, disease and weed break, conserve soil moisture; adding soil organic matter and nutrients and to help alleviate soil physical and structural problems. This review article demonstrates the role of ‘break crops’ and/or of ‘crop rotations’ in providing potential soil quality benefits for profitable and sustainable crop production systems.

Crop residue mulching combined with zero tillage and crop rotation, known as conservation agriculture (CA), is being promoted as an alternative system to revert soil degradation in maize-based farming in the central highlands of Mexico. The goal of this paper was to determine the effects of CA vs. conventional tillage systems on soil quality, with a special focus on the role of earthworms in affecting the soil structure morphology, and on crop yield. For the conventional tillage system, the effect of crop residue retention (CONV + RES) was also compared to the conventional farmers’ practice (residues removed; CONV). CA resulted in four times higher earthworm abundance when compared to CONV. Residue retention per se (CONV + RES) did not favor earthworm abundance. In all cases the earthworm community was dominated by exotic species. CA increased total N and soil organic C concentrations relative to CONV, but only at 0–5 cm soil depth. Nevertheless, the more pronounced vertical stratification of soil organic carbon content under CA favored soil surface aggregation and aggregate stability as expressed by the aggregate mean weight diameter after dry sieving (MWDds = 2.6 mm for CA and 1.6 mm for CONV) and wet sieving (MWDws = 0.9 mm and 0.6 mm, respectively). Also, CA improved topsoil water stable macroaggregation (WSA = 415 mg g−1) when compared to CONV (251 mg g−1). Residue retention within conventional tillage (CONV + RES) led to small increases in topsoil aggregate stability (i.e. MWDds and WSA). Soil structural improvements were accompanied by a higher direct surface water infiltration. Micromorphological analysis of thin sections indicated a loose and highly biogenic soil microstructure in CA, whereas CONV was characterized by a physicogenic microstructure, despite similar soil bulk densities (SBD). SBD is thus a poor indicator of soil physical quality when comparing different tillage systems. Redundancy analysis illustrated that CA resulted in improvement in most parameters related to soil quality, especially at the soil surface, but significant yield increases were recorded only in 2004. CONV + RES lead to marginal improvements in soil quality with no yield increases.

While water erosion has been the focus of past research in the Andes, former studies show that soil erosion could also be related to the methods used in cultivating the fields. The main objective of the present study was to assess (i) tillage erosion caused by the traditional animal-powered “yunta” or ard plough in the Andes and the factors controlling the process and (ii) the implications for soil conservation. Erosion rates were experimentally measured on 27 sites, having slopes from ca. 0% to 60% and soils ranging from Andosols to ...

Відповідно до вимог системного аналізу розгляд функціонування калійної системи, з одного боку, ґрунтується на аксіомі її цілісності, з іншого, - вирішення цього завдання неможливе без детального вивчення і характеристики її елементів, структури і ієрархії, системоутворювальних відносин, визначення їх просторових меж.

... labile P sources (Bolan, 1991 and Hernández et al., 2000), but other studies demonstrated that mycorrhizal plants obtained P from normally unavailable sources of Pi and Po (Bolan et al., 1987, Jayachandran et al., 1989, Jayachandran et al., 1992, Koide and Kabir, 2000 and ...

Soil quality management helps to maintain biological productivity; air and water quality; and human habitation and health. As improper land management can deteriorate soil function, the evaluation of soil quality for different land use is necessary. To evaluate soil quality for different land use types in the Panchase area, soil quality index was computed on the basis of the soil management assessment framework. Protected forest has the highest soil quality index (0.95) followed by community forest (0.91), pasture (0.88), khet (0.81), and bari (0.79). Available phosphorus and soil organic carbon play major roles in making significant differences in the SQI among the different land use types. Less anthropogenic impact and vegetation in forest land result in better soil quality, whereas attempts to increase productivity in cultivated land degrade the soil quality. The proper application of fertilizer and giving priority to organic farming is recommended to improve soil quality.