New approaches for evaluation of soil health, sensitivity and resistance to degradation

authored by

Yakov Kuzyakov, Anna Gunina, Kazem Zamanian, Jing Tian, Yu Luo, Xingliang Xu, Anna Yudina, Humberto Aponte, Hattan Alharbi, Lilit Ovsepyan, Irina Kurganova, Tida Ge, Thomas Guillaume

Abstract

Assessment of soil health requires complex evaluation of properties and functions responsible for a broad range of ecosystem services. Numerous soil quality indices (SQI) have been suggested for the evaluation of specific groups of soil functions, but comparison of various SQI is impossible because they are based on a combination of specific soil properties. To avoid this problem, we suggest an SQI-area approach based on the comparison of the areas on a radar diagram of a combination of chemical, biological and physical properties. The new approach is independent of the SQI principle and allows rapid and simple comparison of parameter groups and soils. Another approach analyzing the resistance and sensitivity of properties to degradation is suggested for a detailed evaluation of soil health. The resistance and sensitivity of soil properties are determined through comparison with the decrease of soil organic carbon (SOC) as a universal parameter responsible for many functions. The SQI-area and resistance/sensitivity approaches were tested based on the recovery of Phaeozems and Chernozems chronosequences after the abandonment of agricultural soils. Both the SQI-area and the resistance/sensitivity approaches are useful for basic and applied research, and for decisionmakers to evaluate land-use practices and measure the degree of soil degradation.

External Organisation(s)

University of Göttingen
King Saud University
University of Kassel
China Agricultural University
Zhejiang University
Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute (SSI)
Universidad de la Frontera
Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS)
Ningbo University
University of Lausanne (UNIL)

Type

Review article

Journal

Frontiers of Agricultural Science and Engineering

Volume

7

Pages

282-288

No. of pages

7

ISSN

2095-7505

Publication date

2020

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Biotechnology, General Veterinary, General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 15 - Life on Land

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2020338 (Access: Open)