The Soil Quality Indices Literature

s. Bloodworth, H., and T. Sobecki. 2002. Land use biodiversity index as a soil quality indicator. In Making conservation tillage conventional: Building a future on 25 years of research; Proceedings of 25 Annual Southern Conservation Tillage Conference for Sustainable Agriculture, Auburn, AL, USA, 24-26 June, 2002, Pp.219-221. E. van Santen, editor. Auburn, AL: Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn University. Decreases in land cover diversity can lead to decreases in soil quality. This study proposes using the National Resources Inventory (NRI) to develop a biodiversity index as a biological indicator of soil quality. Index values for Major Land Resource Areas in the southeastern USA were calculated using land use based upon whether the Primary Sampling Unit was either: (1) all cropland; (2) multi-cropped; (3) cropland with at least one non-cropland use; or (4) cropland having some vegetative diversity (cover crop, buffer strip, etc.). Forestland and range/pasture land uses provided high biodiversity index values for most of the southeastern USA. Cropland enrolled into the Conservation Reserve Program was attributed with the increase from 1982-97 of those acres with a score of 4. Irrigated cropland tended to have lower index values than non-irrigated cropland. Maize (Zea mays) and soyabean (Glycine max) seed yields tended to decrease as index values increased. Using the NRI did show promise for developing a biodiversity index.