How can we improve soil organic matter in soil and role of soil organic matter in maintaining sustainability of cropping systems?
To improve the soil quality the increasing of organic allows better soil productivity. Soil organic matter improves soil texture allowing greater water and aeration which is beneficial to palnt growth. In addition soil orgainc favors soil microbes which are able to supply probiotic health benefits.
If the top soil is 5% or greater in soil organic matter soils can be highly productive. Most virgin soills have that optimized soil organic matter content but cultivation practices have caused most cultivated soils to have less than 3% soil organic matter and a large portion had 2% or less.
In a sandy soil the ability to increase organic matter can be fostered by increasing silt and clay content.
In acid soils the ability to retain organic matter can be fostered by limining.
The use of biochar compost manures and forage cropping can increase soil organic matter.
A strategy to improve soil organic matter needs a soil analysis baseline a program for targeting a goal of improvement and monitoring of interim results.
The improvement of soil organic matter makes it possible for crops to avoid much of drought stress and improves plant health including ability to tolerate insect pests and diseases.
Since water relations and pests and diseases are major constraints to crop production the increasing of soil organic matter lowers the variability from those factors stabilizing production yields and improving quality.
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