"Soil health is a state of a soil meeting its range of ecosystem functions as appropriate to its environment."
Understanding the properties and characteristics of soil, how to maintain and improve soil health for optimal crop growth and productivity.
Soil structure and composition: This involves understanding the physical properties of soil such as the size and arrangement of soil particles, pore spaces, texture, and soil layers.
Soil biology: This involves understanding the living components of soil including microbes, fungi, and fauna, and their roles in the maintenance of soil health.
Soil organic matter: This is the decaying organic material that contributes to soil fertility and resilience. It is obtained from natural sources such as plant litter, manure, and compost.
Soil nutrients: This involves understanding the chemical composition of soil nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and how plants utilize them.
Soil testing: This is the process of analyzing the soil to determine its nutrient content, pH, and other characteristics that influence plant growth.
Crop selection: This involves selecting the right crops to grow in a particular soil environment, based on factors such as soil type, fertility, and pH.
Crop rotation: This is the practice of alternating crops to improve soil health, increase yield, and reduce disease and pest problems.
Cover crops: This involves planting crops, such as clover or rye, during the off-season to improve soil health, reduce erosion, and increase biodiversity.
Integrated pest management: This is the use of natural pest management techniques to control pests and reduce the use of pesticides.
Soil conservation: This involves implementing practices that reduce soil erosion, such as contour farming, terracing, and strip cropping.
Irrigation management: This involves managing water usage in agriculture, including the selection of appropriate irrigation systems and the scheduling of water for optimal farming yield.
Sustainable agriculture: This is a holistic approach to agriculture that aims to minimize environmental impact while maximizing yield and profitability.
Soil health assessments: These are scientific evaluations, including soil health indicators like soil organic matter, that provide a measure of a soil's overall condition and resiliency.
Nutrient management planning: This is the process of developing a plan for managing nutrients in a way that minimizes environmental pollution and maximizes crop productivity.
Regenerative agriculture: This involves a balance of management practices intended to build soil health, create biodiversity, and cultivate ecosystem services to support healthy crop yields.
Physical Health: Physical health is the measure of soil structure, texture, and water-holding capacity. Soil that has good physical health supports healthy plant growth, regulates water penetration and drainage, and provides a stable base for roots. Physical degradation can occur due to over-tillage, compaction, erosion, and chemical use.
Chemical Health: Chemical health refers to the presence and balance of essential nutrients, organic matter, and pH level in the soil. The optimal chemical composition in soil varies depending on the crops grown and the environmental conditions. A soil with deficient nutrients, low pH, or high salinity can lead to reduced crop yields and plant diseases.
Biological Health: Biological health is a measure of the abundance and diversity of microorganisms, fungi, and insects in the soil. Beneficial microorganisms, such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, and earthworms, can help maintain soil fertility, reduce pathogens, and break down organic matter. On the other hand, harmful microorganisms, such as fungi, bacteria, pests, and weeds, can cause soil degradation and reduce crop yield.
Crop Health: Crop health is a measure of how well crops grow in the soil with minimal disease, pest, or weather-related stress. Soil health plays a critical role in determining crop health. Soil that has optimal physical, chemical, and biological attributes supports healthy crop growth, resilience to environmental stress, and high yields.
Environmental Health: Environmental health measures the ecological impact of farming practices and the ability of the soil to sequester and store carbon, reduce greenhouse gases, and prevent soil erosion. Environmentally sustainable practices, such as reduced tillage, cover cropping, crop rotation, and agroforestry, can improve soil health and mitigate the environmental impact of farming.
"The health of soil arises from favorable interactions of all soil components (living and non-living) that belong together, as in microbiota, plants, and animals."
"It is possible that a soil can be healthy in terms of ecosystem functioning but not necessarily serve crop production or human nutrition directly."
"Soil health depends on soil biodiversity (with a robust soil biota)."
"Soil health can be improved via soil management, especially by care to keep protective living covers on the soil and by natural (carbon-containing) soil amendments."
"Inorganic fertilizers do not necessarily damage soil health if used at appropriate and not excessive rates."
"If inorganic fertilizers bring about a general improvement of overall plant growth, it contributes more carbon-containing residues to the soil."
"Soil health testing is pursued as an assessment of this status but tends to be confined largely to agronomic objectives."
"Soil health arises from favorable interactions of all soil components (living and non-living) that belong together."
"Soil health depends on soil biodiversity and tends to be confined largely to agronomic objectives."
"Soil health can be improved via soil management, especially by keeping protective living covers on the soil."
"Soil health can be improved via natural (carbon-containing) soil amendments."
"Soil health can be improved via soil management, especially by care to keep protective living covers on the soil and by natural (carbon-containing) soil amendments."
"Inorganic fertilizers do damage soil health if used at excessive rates."
"Inorganic fertilizers do not necessarily damage soil health if used at appropriate rates."
"Soil health can be healthy in terms of ecosystem functioning but not necessarily serve crop production or human nutrition directly."
"Soil health arises from favorable interactions of all soil components (living and non-living) that belong together."
"The health of soil arises from favorable interactions of all soil components (living and non-living) that belong together."
"Soil health testing is pursued as an assessment of this status."
"If inorganic fertilizers bring about a general improvement of overall plant growth, it contributes more carbon-containing residues to the soil."