Sustaining Soil Organic Carbon, Soil Quality, and Soil Health in Organic Field Crop Management Systems

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Jesús Aguilera-Huertas ◽  
Beatriz Lozano-García ◽  
Manuel González-Rosado ◽  
Luis Parras-Alcántara

The short- and medium—long-term effects of management and hillside position on soil organic carbon (SOC) changes were studied in a centenary Mediterranean rainfed olive grove. One way to measure these changes is to analyze the soil quality, as it assesses soil degradation degree and attempts to identify management practices for sustainable soil use. In this context, the SOC stratification index (SR-COS) is one of the best indicators of soil quality to assess the degradation degree from SOC content without analyzing other soil properties. The SR-SOC was calculated in soil profiles (horizon-by-horizon) to identify the best soil management practices for sustainable use. The following time periods and soil management combinations were tested: (i) in the medium‒long-term (17 years) from conventional tillage (CT) to no-tillage (NT), (ii) in the short-term (2 years) from CT to no-tillage with cover crops (NT-CC), and (iii) the effect in the short-term (from CT to NT-CC) of different topographic positions along a hillside. The results indicate that the SR-SOC increased with depth for all management practices. The SR-SOC ranged from 1.21 to 1.73 in CT0, from 1.48 to 3.01 in CT1, from 1.15 to 2.48 in CT2, from 1.22 to 2.39 in NT-CC and from 0.98 to 4.16 in NT; therefore, the soil quality from the SR-SOC index was not directly linked to the increase or loss of SOC along the soil profile. This demonstrates the time-variability of SR-SOC and that NT improves soil quality in the long-term.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-178
Author(s):  
Davood A. Dar ◽  
Bhawana Pathak ◽  
M. H. Fulekar

 Soil organic carbon (SOC) estimation in temperate forests of the Himalaya is important to estimate their contribution to regional, national and global carbon stocks. Physico chemical properties of soil were quantified to assess soil organic carbon density (SOC) and SOC CO2 mitigation density at two soil depths (0-10 and 10-20 cms) under temperate forest in the Northern region of Kashmir Himalayas India. The results indicate that conductance, moisture content, organic carbon and organic matter were significantly higher while as pH and bulk density were lower at Gulmarg forest site. SOC % was ranging from 2.31± 0.96 at Gulmarg meadow site to 2.31 ± 0.26 in Gulmarg forest site. SOC stocks in these temperate forests were from 36.39 ±15.40 to 50.09 ± 15.51 Mg C ha-1. The present study reveals that natural vegetation is the main contributor of soil quality as it maintained the soil organic carbon stock. In addition, organic matter is an important indicator of soil quality and environmental parameters such as soil moisture and soil biological activity change soil carbon sequestration potential in temperate forest ecosystems.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v4i1.12186International Journal of Environment Volume-4, Issue-1, Dec-Feb 2014/15; page: 161-178


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Andi Indra Jaya Asaad ◽  
Erna Ratnawati ◽  
Akhmad Mustafa

Environmental factors in the form of soil and water quality are the important factors of aquaculture pond productivity, including total production (tiger shrimps, Penaeus monodon, and milkfish, Chanos chanos) in Pasuruan, East Java Province. The objective of this study was to analyze the direct or indirect effects of soil and water quality on the total production of ponds in Pasuruan using a path analysis application. Data were collected in the pond areas around Pasuruan Regency including Nguling, Lekok, Rejoso, Keraton, and Bangil Sub-Districts as well as Pasuruan City. Soil quality was determined as a free variable and exogen; water quality as mediate variable, suspended, and endogen; as well as milkfish production as suspended variable and endogen. Environmental characteristics were illustrated using descriptive statistics, while environment factor effects on total production were analyzed using path analysis. The results of path analysis show that from the 12 analyzed soil quality variables, only two variables were affected in the total production of pond (tiger shrimps and milkfish) namely: contents of soil organic carbon and soil phosphate. While based on 11 water quality variables, two variables (water salinity and water iron) were affected the total production of ponds in Pasuruan Regency. The direct effects of soil organic carbon and phosphate on the total production were 0.314 and -0.600, respectively. Water salinity and water iron gave direct effects on total production amounting to -0.678 and 0.358 respectively. It is also found that two soil variables which were affected in the total production, did not indicate the effect towards water quality in ponds. Further implication of this research is put more attention for these variables into pond’s management in order to gain more production. Technical application could be appropriate for pond preparation and frequently water changing during grow out.


Geoderma ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 406 ◽  
pp. 115529
Author(s):  
Thomas Guillaume ◽  
David Makowski ◽  
Zamir Libohova ◽  
Luca Bragazza ◽  
Fatbardh Sallaku ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 9782
Author(s):  
Mashapa Elvis Malobane ◽  
Adornis Dakarai Nciizah ◽  
Fhatuwani Nixwell Mudau ◽  
Isaiah Iguna Chabaari Wakindiki

Labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions are considered as sensitive indicators of change in soil quality and can serve as proxies for soil organic carbon (SOC). Although the impact of tillage, crop rotation and crop residue management on soil quality is well known, less is known about LOC and SOC dynamics in the sweet sorghum production systems in South Africa. This short-term study tested two tillage levels: no-till and conventional-tillage, two crop rotations: sweet-sorghum/winter grazing vetch/sweet sorghum and sweet-sorghum/winter fallow/sweet sorghum rotations and three crop residue retention levels: 30%, 15% and 0%. Tillage was the main factor to influence SOC and LOC fractions under the sweet sorghum cropping system in South Africa. NT increased SOC and all LOC fractions compared to CT, which concurs with previous findings. Cold water extractable organic carbon (CWEOC) and hot water extractable organic carbon (HWEOC) were found to be more sensitive to tillage and strongly positively correlated to SOC. An increase in residue retention led to an increase in microbial biomass carbon (MBC). This study concludes that CWEOC and HWEOC can serve as sensitive early indicators of change in soil quality and are an ideal proxy for SOC in the sweet-sorghum cropping system in South Africa.


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