Evaluation of soil quality can be crucial for designing efficient farming systems and ensuring sustainable agriculture. The present study aimed at evaluating the quality of waterlogged purple paddy soils with different productivities in Sichuan Basin. The approach involved comprehensive analyses of soil physical and chemical properties, as well as enzyme activities and microbial community struc...

This report presents an integrated approach of soil quality and sustainability evaluation.Interactions of the soil and land use systems are summarized from the perspective of theimplication of soil related policies in the European Union. The approach introduced in this reporthas been design in support of the EU Thematic Strategy for soil Protection, aiming soil qualitypreser...

Soil quality is a concept based on the premise that management can deteriorate, stabilize, or improve soil ecosystem functions. It is hypothesized that the degree of stratification of soil organic C and N pools with soil depth, expressed as a ratio, could indicate soil quality or soil ecosystem functioning, because surface organic matter is essential to erosion control, water infiltration, and ...

Maize or Corn (Zea mays L.) is the most important cereal in the world after wheat and rice. It possesses high nutritive value and is important as a coarse grain. In Sri Lanka, this crop has cultivated, around 30,000ha and local consumption is around 200,000mt annually. Further, Maize is an easily grown crop and the cultivation has been popular among farmers as a cost effective crop with limited...

The definition of soil quality encompasses physical, chemical and biological characteristics, and it is related to fertility and soil health. Many indicators can be used to describe soil quality, but it is important to take into account sensitivity, required time, and related properties, than can be explained. Properties related to organic matter content, such as C/N ratio, organic carbon fract...

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Fuzzy logic expert system Fuzzy inference system Soil quality Soil restoration Soil physical indicators Due to landscaping, mining and construction activities on previously cultivated land, more and more soils are excavated, translocated, deposited and restored. In many cases restored soils show signs of structural degradation such as overcompaction and water log...

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 St...

Interactions between the diversity of primary producers (plants) and of decomposers (microbes and mesofaunal communities), the two key functional groups that form the basis of all ecosystems have major consequences on the functioning of agricultural ecosystems. Soil microorganisms control the transformation and mineralization of natural compounds and xenobiotics. The soil microbiota, existing i...