Refining physical aspects of soil quality and soil health when exploring the effects of soil degradation and climate change on biomass production: an Italian case study

This study focuses on soil physical aspects of soil quality and health with the objective to define procedures with worldwide rather than only regional applicability, reflecting modern developments in soil physical and agronomic research and addressing important questions regarding possible effects of soil degradation and climate change. In contrast to water and air, soils cannot, even after much research, be characterized by a universally accepted quality definition and this hampers the internal and external communication process. Soil quality expresses the capacity of the soil to function. Biomass production is a primary function, next to filtering and organic matter accumulation, and can be modeled with soil–water–atmosphere–plant (SWAP) simulation models, as used in the agronomic yield-gap program that defines potential yields (Yp) for any location on earth determined by radiation, temperature and standardized crop characteristics, assuming adequate water and nutrient supply and lack of pests and diseases. The water-limited yield (Yw) reflects, in addition, the often limited water availability at a particular location. Actual yields (Ya) can be considered in relation to Yw to indicate yield gaps, to be expressed in terms of the indicator (Ya/Yw)×100. Soil data to calculate Yw for a given soil type (the genoform) should consist of a range of soil properties as a function of past management (various phenoforms) rather than as a single representative dataset. This way a Yw-based characteristic soil quality range for every soil type is defined, based on semipermanent soil properties. In this study effects of subsoil compaction, overland flow following surface compaction and erosion were simulated for six soil series in the Destra Sele area in Italy, including effects of climate change. Recent proposals consider soil health, which appeals more to people than soil quality and is now defined by separate soil physical, chemical and biological indicators. Focusing on the soil function biomass production, physical soil health at a given time of a given type of soil can be expressed as a point (defined by a measured Ya) on the defined soil quality range for that particular type of soil, thereby defining the seriousness of the problem and the scope for improvement. The six soils showed different behavior following the three types of land degradation and projected climate change up to the year 2100. Effects are expected to be major as reductions of biomass production of up to 50 % appear likely under the scenarios. Rather than consider soil physical, chemical and biological indicators separately, as proposed now elsewhere for soil health, a sequential procedure is discussed, logically linking the separate procedures.