Approaches to Soil Health Analysis, Volume 1. Группа авторов

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in isolation, it is unlikely that a single practice will provide lasting SH benefits through improved SOM or the critical soil functions associated with SOM. For example, incorporating a cereal rye cover crop into a two‐crop rotation that is dependent on frequent tillage may provide some weed suppression benefits or help reduce erosion, but it is unlikely that soil aggregate stability will be improved. Realizing improvement in soil function through management changes will typically require the strategic and simultaneous use of multiple practices. To better understand potential interactions among practices it may be helpful to think of their roles with regard to each of four broadly applicable NRCS soil health principles: minimizing soil disturbance, maximizing soil cover, maximizing biodiversity, and maximizing the presence of living roots. Each principle can be implemented using soil and crop management practices designed to address existing soil health concerns and maintain soil function. Depending on the cropping system, each soil health principle can be achieved through appropriate use of one or more conservation practices. Achieving all four principles by thoughtfully implementing and adaptively integrating multiple, complimentary conservation practices known to address identified constraints or concerns is the best way to ensure that soil health constraints are alleviated through synergistic effects as illustrated below.

      Minimizing Soil Disturbance

      Maximizing Soil Cover

      Crop residue and other organic materials such as mulch and compost, when they are left on the soil surface, provide a protective barrier between the soil and the destructive force of raindrops. They also moderate extremes in soil temperature and reduce evaporative losses from the soil. Soil cover can also be provided by leaves of growing plants. Keeping the soil covered throughout the year helps maintain soil aggregate integrity, protect habitat and provide food for soil organisms. Conservation practices that can be used to maximize cover include Conservation Cover (327), Cover Crop (340), Forage & Biomass Planting (512), Mulching (484), Prescribed Grazing (528) and Residue/Tillage Management (329/345).

      Maximizing Biodiversity

      It is well known that crop rotations are an important tool for managing plant pests (Altieri, 1991a, 1991b). What has been less appreciated until recently is that plants, primarily through their roots, affect the kinds and abundance of soil microorganisms, thus influencing soil biology and biological processes (Doran & Zeiss, 2000). Different plant species, and even cultivars, are typically associated with distinct soil microbial communities (Dick, 1997). In addition, since plant root architecture often differs among species, effects on soil function are also different (Brussaard et al., 2004). Above ground plant and animal diversity also encourages diversity in soil biology by increasing SOM levels, providing food and habitat for diverse soil communities, promoting greater aggregate stability, and helping alleviate compaction. Conservation practices that can be used to maximize biodiversity include Conservation Cover (327), Conservation Crop Rotation (328), Cover Crop (340), Forage & Biomass Planting (512), and Prescribed Grazing (528).

      Maximizing the Presence of Living Roots

      Efforts to build agricultural resilience through high functioning soil resources are still in their infancy, as documented by national adoption rates for soil health associated practices, and especially soil health management systems across entire human‐managed landscapes (Karlen & Rice, 2015; Wade et al., 2015). Fortunately, federal, state, NGO and private‐sector organizations and individuals are working diligently to advance awareness of soil health and the management practices that improve it. Through increased research, on farm implementation, and policy changes progress is inevitable. The focus in “Approaches to Soil Health Analysis” is to build standardized, basic capacity to better inform management decisions and quantify outcomes of soil health management system implementation.

      Soil health developments during the past three decades have been progressive, provocative, and are thus still under debate. As such, this two‐volume contribution in no way is conceived as providing any final answers, but is envisioned as a step toward incorporating soil health into mainstream soil, water, and environmental science programs, and more importantly into every day agricultural management. Hopefully, they will also open new doors and stimulate additional study and education needed to encourage humankind to recognize the truth in Larson’s often quoted statement that soil is “the thin layer covering the planet that stands between us and starvation” (Karlen et al., 2014).

      1 Acton, D. F., & Gregorich, L. J. (1995). The health of our soils: Toward sustainable agriculture in Canada. Pub. No. 1906/E Centre for Land and Biological Resources Research. Ottawa: Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.58906

      2 Alexander, M. (1971). Agriculture’s responsibility in establishing soil quality criteria. In Environmental improvement: Agriculture’s challenge in the seventies (pp. 66–71). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.

      3 Altieri, M. A. (1991a). How best can we use biodiversity in agroecosystems. Outlook Agricultre, 20, 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/003072709102000105

      4 Altieri, M. A. (1991b). Increasing biodiversity to improve insect pest management in agro‐ecosystems. In D. L. Hawksworth (Ed.), The biodiversity of microorganisms and invertebrates: Its role in sustainable agriculture (pp. 165–182). UK: CAB International.

      5 Andrén,

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