scholarly journals Soil health index– an initiative of ARF for the farmers of district Sonipat, Haryana

Author(s):  
Anil Kanaujia ◽  
Samanwita Banerjee ◽  
Deepti Rai
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Chi ◽  
Zuolun Xie

Abstract The vegetation-soil system is fundamental to island ecosystem and changes considerably across sandy and rocky islands due to different natural and anthropogenic factors. An island chain, which is characterized by the coexistence of sandy and rocky islands, the connection of the islands by bridges, and complex influencing factors, was used as the study area. The vegetation-soil system was represented using different indicators and three newly-proposed indices, namely, vegetation health index (VHI), soil health index (SHI), and vegetation-soil system health index (VSSHI). The complex factors were identified in aspects of island basic factors, landscape pattern, terrain condition, and ecological indices. Then, the spatial responses of the system to the factors were analyzed at island and site scales. Results indicated that the vegetation-soil system showed similar and different responses to the complex factors across the dual scales. The similarity was represented by the higher sensitivities of VHI and VSSHI compared with that of SHI at both scales, and the difference mainly indicated that the influences of landscape pattern factors distinctly decreased along the scales from island to site. Island area, sea reclamation proportion, vegetation proportion, and natural ecosystem damaged index were the most important factors at island scale, while the ecological indices showed the highest influences at site scale. The study revealed the spatial characteristics of the vegetation-soil system across different types of islands, clarified the spatial responses of the system to complex factors at the dual scales, and identified the main influencing factors of the system.


Author(s):  
Anil Kanaujia ◽  
Samanwita Banerjee ◽  
Suruchi Malik ◽  
Kirti Sharma ◽  
Deepak Tyagi ◽  
...  

Soil health and fertility are the basis for gaining sustainable profit through higher productivity by the farmers. Using optimal doses of fertilizers and cropping pattern as per the scientific recommendations is the first step towards sustainable farming. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the most important component in maintaining soil quality because of its role in improving physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil. Organic matter is an important source of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. Soil Health card is a Government of India's scheme promoted by the Department of Agriculture & Co-operation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, apart from giving the health index of soil, will also indicate fertilizer recommendations and soil amendment required for the farm. Under Govt. of Haryana sanctioned Soil Health Card project, ARF carried out the fertility status study of 3000 acres of land of village Baroda Mor, block Mundlana, Tehsil Gohana, Sonipat, Haryana and distribute the cards well before the harvesting of Rabi crop with proper recommendation on dosage of appropriate fertilizer as per deficiency of essential nutrient parameter.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1339
Author(s):  
Cassidy M. Buchanan ◽  
James A. Ippolito

Overgrazed rangelands can lead to soil degradation, yet long-term land application of organic amendments (i.e., biosolids) may play a pivotal role in improving degraded rangelands in terms of soil health. However, the long-term effects on soil health properties in response to single or repeated, low to excessive biosolids applications, on semi-arid, overgrazed grasslands have not been quantified. Using the Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF), soil physical, biological, chemical, nutrient, and overall soil health indices between biosolids applications (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 21, or 30 Mg ha−1) and application time (single: 1991, repeated: 2002) were determined. Results showed no significant changes in soil physical and nutrient health indices. However, the chemical soil health index was greater when biosolids were applied at rates <30 Mg ha−1 and within the single compared to repeated applications. The biological soil health index was positively affected by increasing biosolids application rates, was overall greater in the repeated as compared to the single application, and was maximized at 30 Mg ha−1. The overall soil health index was maximized at rates <30 Mg ha−1. When all indices were combined, and considering past plant community findings at this site, overall soil health appeared optimized at a biosolids application rate of ~10 Mg ha−1. The use of soil health tools can help determine a targeted organic amendment application rate to overgrazed rangelands so the material provides maximum benefits to soils, plants, animals, and the environment.


Author(s):  
Suruchi Malik ◽  
Anil Kanaujia

As the anthropogenic activities are increasing day by day, the environmental pollution has also been rising. The continuous disposal and improper treatment of domestic, industrial, and agricultural wastes is highly toxic and has emerged as a serious pollution threat which is jeopardizing the environment & human health. Soil contamination is referred to as the accumulation in the soil of persistent harmful substances, chemical compounds, radioactive wastes, salts, or pathogens that have a negative impact on biological systems. Bioremediation is a waste management technique that includes the use of living organisms to eradicate or neutralize pollutants from a contaminated site. Other processes use plants, earthworms and biochar to attenuate the toxicity of contaminants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooja Gupta Soni ◽  
Nirmalendu Basak ◽  
Arvind Kumar Rai ◽  
Parul Sundha ◽  
Bhaskar Narjary ◽  
...  

AbstractJudicious application of saline water except for critical growth stages, could be the only practical solution to meet the crop water demand in arid and semi-arid regions, due to limited access to freshwater, especially during dry winter months. A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of tillage [conventional (CT), reduced (RT), and zero (ZT)], rice straw mulch and deficit saline-water irrigation in wheat (100, 80 and 60% of wheat water requirement, CWR) followed by rainfed sorghum on soil properties and the yields of the cropping system. Yields of both the crops were comparable between RT and CT, but the wheat yield was reduced in ZT. The RT, mulching and deficit saline irrigation in wheat season (60% CWR) increased the sorghum fodder yield. Olsen’s P (8.7–20.6%) and NH4OAc-K (2.5–7.5%) increased in RT and ZT, respectively, over CT under both the crops. Deficit irrigation reduced soil salinity (ECe) by 0.73–1.19 dS m−1 after each crop cycle, while soil microbial biomass C (MBC) and N (MBN), dehydrogenase, urease and alkaline phosphatase reduced with an increase in ECe. The α-glucosidase, MBC, ECe, KMnO4oxidizable N, and urease were identified as major contributors in developing the soil health index. Deficit irrigation (60% CWR) and rice straw mulching under ZT and RT showed higher values of soil health index. Overall, deficit saline-water irrigation under reduced tillage and straw mulching had the greatest potential in maintaining soil health, saving fresh irrigation water without affecting the productivity of the sorghum-wheat system in the semi-arid regions of India. Results also demonstrated that salt affected areas of arid and semiarid countries can replicate the protocol for indexing and screening of soil health indicators to assess the sustainability of a cropping system. This integrated management based on the nature of the available resources also provided a practical approach to achieve the target of land degradation neutrality and land restoration.


Author(s):  
T. L. Ataikiru ◽  
G. S. C. Okpokwasili ◽  
P. O. Okerentugba

This study aimed at determining the impact of Carbofuran and Paraquat use on soil microbial biomass and microbial population as soil health index. Pot experiment, set-up as a randomized block design with replicates was done, with both pesticides applied at recommended rates for eight weeks. Twenty-four (24) soil samples were taken from the pesticides polluted soil as well as the unpolluted soil. These samples were used to assess the effect of pesticides on microbial biomass carbon (MB-C), nitrogen (MB-N) and phosphorus (MB-P). Also, microbial population (determined by aerobic spread plate count) of the pesticide-polluted soils was used as health index. The assessments were done weekly. The microbial biomass values increased from 273.48 µg/g to 293.15 µg/g (MB-C), 17.275 µg/g to 18.52 µg/g (MB-N) and 10.605 µg/g to 11.37 µg/g (MB-P) in carbofuran treated soil while increases from 277.26 µg/g to 288.365 µg/g (MB-C), 17.515 µg/g to 18.22 µg/g (MB-N) and 10.745 µg/g to 11.18 µg/g (MB-P) were observed in paraquat treated soil. The microbial counts in treated soils were within the ranges of 1.95 x 106 cfu/g to 1.03 x 107 cfu/g, 8.83 x 104 to 1.90 x 105 cfu/g, 1.08x 104 to 2.43 x 104, 1.15 x105 to 2.17 x 105 cfu/g, 1.38 x 105 to 2.22 x 105 cfu/g for total heterotrophic bacterial, fungal, actinomycetes, phosphate solubilizers, nitrifiers counts, respectively. The pesticides had no negative effects on the MB-C, MB-N, MB-P and soil microorganisms at recommended field rates, hence their use must be strictly based on these rates. These findings indicate that the relationship between soil nutrients and microbial biomass is significant in facilitating the use of microbial biomass as an important soil quality indicator.


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