Assessing Farmers' Knowledge of Weed Species, Crop Type and Soil Management Practices in Relation to Soil Quality Status in Mai-Negus Catchment, Northern Ethiopia

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gebreyesus Brhane Tesfahunegn ◽  
Lulseged Tamene ◽  
Paul L. G. Vlek ◽  
Kirubel Mekonnen
Keyword(s):  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Northern Ethiopia ◽  
Weed Species ◽  
Crop Type ◽  
Quality Status

scholarly journals Effects of Management and Hillside Position on Soil Organic Carbon Stratification in Mediterranean Centenary Olive Grove

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Jesús Aguilera-Huertas ◽  
Beatriz Lozano-García ◽  
Manuel González-Rosado ◽  
Luis Parras-Alcántara
Keyword(s):  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Olive Grove ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Degradation Degree

The short- and medium—long-term effects of management and hillside position on soil organic carbon (SOC) changes were studied in a centenary Mediterranean rainfed olive grove. One way to measure these changes is to analyze the soil quality, as it assesses soil degradation degree and attempts to identify management practices for sustainable soil use. In this context, the SOC stratification index (SR-COS) is one of the best indicators of soil quality to assess the degradation degree from SOC content without analyzing other soil properties. The SR-SOC was calculated in soil profiles (horizon-by-horizon) to identify the best soil management practices for sustainable use. The following time periods and soil management combinations were tested: (i) in the medium‒long-term (17 years) from conventional tillage (CT) to no-tillage (NT), (ii) in the short-term (2 years) from CT to no-tillage with cover crops (NT-CC), and (iii) the effect in the short-term (from CT to NT-CC) of different topographic positions along a hillside. The results indicate that the SR-SOC increased with depth for all management practices. The SR-SOC ranged from 1.21 to 1.73 in CT0, from 1.48 to 3.01 in CT1, from 1.15 to 2.48 in CT2, from 1.22 to 2.39 in NT-CC and from 0.98 to 4.16 in NT; therefore, the soil quality from the SR-SOC index was not directly linked to the increase or loss of SOC along the soil profile. This demonstrates the time-variability of SR-SOC and that NT improves soil quality in the long-term.

Soil quality indices for evaluation of long-term land use and soil management practices in semi-arid sub-tropical India

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 516-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Masto ◽  
P. K. Chhonkar ◽  
T. J. Purakayastha ◽  
A. K. Patra ◽  
D. Singh
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Quality Indices ◽  
Semi Arid

A Comparative Study of Soil Quality in Two Vineyards Differing in Soil Management Practices

2015 ◽  
pp. 381-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stamatis Stamatiadis ◽  
A. Liopa-Tsakalidi ◽  
L. M. Maniati ◽  
P. Karageorgou ◽  
E. Natioti
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management

scholarly journals SMAF: A Soil Health Assessment Tool

2013 ◽  
Vol 120 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
D. L. KARLEN ◽  
C. D. NANCE ◽  
D. L. DINNES ◽  
D. W. MEEK
Keyword(s):  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Soil Health ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Winter Triticale ◽  
Growing Seasons ◽  
Health Differences ◽  
Health Assessments

The Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) was developed to help quantify soil quality/health effects of tillage, crop rotation, and other soil management practices. Our objective was to determine if the SMAF could detect soil health differences after growing a single winter triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) crop. Soil samples were collected from 0 to 7.5- and 7.5 to 15-cm depth increments during the 2003 – 2004 and 2004 – 2005 growing seasons near Ames and Lewis, IA, and analyzed for several potential soil quality indicators. The SMAF analysis showed higher soil quality ratings for surface than subsurface samples. It also showed that a single winter grain crop can significantly improve soil quality after either corn (Zea mays L.) or soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.). Finally, in response to increasing interest in soil health assessments, a detailed appendix is attached to provide guidance for future soil health assessments.

Soil quality index to assess soil management practices in the semi-arid of Morocco

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiba Et-Tayeb ◽  
Khalid Ibno Namr ◽  
El Houssine El Mzouri ◽  
Bouchra El Bourhrami
Keyword(s):  
Soil Quality ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Soil Quality Index ◽  
Semi Arid

Improving Crop Productivity and Soil Quality Through Soil Management Practices in Coastal Saline Agro-ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarik Mitran ◽  
Nirmalendu Basak ◽  
Pabitra Kumar Mani ◽  
Amrit Tamang ◽  
Durgesh Kumar Singh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Crop Productivity

Short-term effects of different soil management practices on biodiversity and soil quality of Mediterranean ancient olive orchards

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Calabrese ◽  
E. V. Perrino ◽  
G. Ladisa ◽  
A. Aly ◽  
M. Tesfmichael Solomon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Short Term Effects

scholarly journals Assessing soil carbon and soil quality for sustainable agricultural systems in tropical hillslope soils using spectroscopic methods

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bunjirtluk Jintaridth
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World

Soil quality is a concept that integrates physical, chemical, and biological components and processes of soil across landscapes. Identifying and developing appropriate methods to quantify and assess changes in soil quality are necessary for evaluating soil degradation and improving management practices. Many parameters that are associated with soil quality depend on soil organic matter (SOM) levels and composition. The objectives of this research were to: 1) conduct a literature review of soil quality assessment techniques to evaluate soil quality across a wide-range of environments and agricultural practices; 2) determine if some standard soil sampling and analytical protocols could be identified or developed to enhance soil quality comparisons across a wide range of environments around the world; and 3) assess the efficacy of spectroscopic-based (i.e. near-infrared, mid-infrared, and visible range) analytical methods to evaluate soil organic matter fractions and soil quality. To assess soil quality for sustainable agricultural systems in hillslope soils using spectroscopic methods, surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were collected from hillslope agricultural sites in Bolivia, the Philippines and Indonesia which had differences in length of fallow, levels of soil degradation, and cultivation by landscape position. To determine the efficacy of spectroscopic-based on visible range, the use of the potassium permanganate test (MnOxC) for active organic carbon was studied. The MnOxC test was generally responsive to a range of fallow lengths among different agricultural fields and communities in Umala Municipality in Bolivia. A major objective of fallowing agricultural fields in this region is to restore soil fertility in the field after cropping. This general increase in MnOxC with increased length fallowing may be due to inputs of residue and roots from regrowth of native vegetation after cropping in fallowed areas and possible manure inputs from sheep that generally graze these fallow areas. In addition, higher concentrations of MnOxC were generally observed in non-degraded soil compared to that of degraded soil in all sampled communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Comparisons of soil quality among agroforestry and nonagroforestry sites were studied near Bogor, Indonesia. Both agroforestry and nonagroforestry sites had been managed with different types and rates (low, medium, and high) of amendments including manure, compost and chemical fertilizer. Soil MnOxC was generally higher with increasing amounts of added animal manure and in agroforestry areas compared to that of non-agroforestry areas. A set of soil samples was collected along a hill-slope transect from the top to the bottom of agricultural valley on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. The transect across the landscape was divided into summit, shoulder, backslope, footslope and toeslope landscape positions. Soil MnOxC from cultivated fields areas at each landscape position were generally lower than noncultivated areas at similar landscape positions. Among the non-cultivated sites, soil MnOxC was the highest at the summit position and the lowest at the backslope positions while soil MnOxC among cultivated sites were relatively similar across the hill-slope transect. This comparison of the use of the soil MnOxC test to determine changes in active C among a wide range of environmental conditions, cropping systems and soil management practices among agroecosystems with hillslopes in tropical countries around the world indicates that the soil MnOxC test is a sensitive indicator to assess changes in active C with changes in crop and soil management. Several advantages to using this procedure include its ease of use that requires a minimal of training for the field method, its low relative cost and growing research results that facilitate interpretation of the test results. Therefore, this method has potential for supporting management decisions, and sustainable management of agricultural systems in tropical hillslope ecosystems. The ability of visible/near-infrared (VNIR) spectroscopy to estimate soil organic carbon and carbon fractions from diverse soils in tropical hillslope agroecosystems around the world that were under different soil management and cropping systems was evaluated in this research. It was shown that VNIR spectroscopy could be an effective technique to estimate SOC and soil organic carbon fractions for a wide range of soils from tropical hillslope agroecosystems around the world. Several potential advantages of use of VNIR compared to conventional soil testing methods in developing countries are that it may allow for simultaneous evaluation of several soil properties and it can be done rapidly and possibly in the field. Diffuse Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (DRIFT) is considered to be one of the most sensitive infrared techniques for analyzing the structural composition of soil organic matter. The benefit of the DRIFT technique is the ability to characterize the functional group composition of heterogeneous materials with minimal sample preparation. Results showed that this method can be used to characterize the functional groups of heterogeneous soil organic materials and it may be a more direct method to determine changes in soil organic matter and soil quality caused by soil management practices than several other chemical and spectral techniques. The high resolution of the spectra and quantitative estimations of functional groups can be used to analyze soil organic carbon composition. Therefore, in future work this technique has great potential to be an accurate and simple method for helping to understand the changes in the composition of soil organic carbon due to soil organic management practices and to estimate changes in soil quality resulting from those practices in these hillslope agroecosystems.

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