More I am reading, more I am getting confused to define Soil Health ? So, What is Soil Health? And How you can categorize or classify lands based on soil health? Can you define soil health in quantity or index, lets say field A has soil health 6 and it can sustain for next 6 years or field B has soil health 4 and it will sustain next 4 years? What score is good or what score is bad and how to get the score?
So, How to define soil health and use it in classifying particular farm land ? How we can use soil health to define sustainability or vitality of a cropping land to host or sustain the ecosystem for year after year?
A very timely concern shown. Truly opinions are varying and these are based on experimental observations at different places of the world. But we need to have a definition that could be accepted universally, if at all that is possible.
I think the Cornell University Soil Health Assessment is a very good one. It includes parameters reflecting the physical, chemical and biological soil condition with multiple indicators in each area. Soil health is something that related to the capacity to optimize the yield quality and adaptability of plants growing on diverse soil media. For areas where soil assessment is in development reviewing this assessment the Cornell methodology is strongly suggested.
Soil health is a state of a soil meeting its range of ecosystem functions as appropriate to its environment. In more colloquial terms, the health of soil arises from favorable interactions of all soil components that belong together, as in microbiota, plants and animals, continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. This definition speaks to the importance of managing soils so they are sustainable for future generations. To do this, we need to remember that soil contains living organisms that when provided the basic necessities of life - food, shelter, and water - perform functions required to produce food and fiber.
Soil health is centered around the content of stable carbon in the soil, or organic matter (OM). When soil carbon is high, then the physical, chemical and biological traits of a soil will make this most conducive to host a crop and make it healthy and productive. Soil OM feeds the soil microflora and microfauna, thus expanding and strengthening the soil food web. When the soil food web is strong, the plant community growing on top of it will be strong also, resilient and biologically diverse. The Cornell University Soil Health Assessment is a very good instrument to quantify soil health (although under the Biological categories I would have added a few more to measure soil microbiological activity and or macro invertebrates). A simple method to evaluate soil quality/health has been proposed by UC Berkeley for farmers in California. Here attached is copy of the article, which I think you will find interesting. Cheers!
El tema de la salud del suelo está ganando atención porque promueve prácticas agrícolas que son buenas no solo para el agricultor, sino también para el medio ambiente y la seguridad alimentaria. El suelo es un ecosistema viviente que alberga a miles de millones de microbios que ayudan a los animales, las plantas y los seres humanos a reciclar el carbono y los nutrientes minerales para mantener la vida. Se necesitan indicadores de salud del suelo que puedan evaluar el desempeño de estos sistemas biológicos complejos.
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