Case Studies on Sustainable Soil Health Management Through Application of Organic Amendments in Dolichos Bean Cultivation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mullaimaran S. ◽  
Haripriya K.
Soil Systems ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Haddish Melakeberhan ◽  
Gregory Bonito ◽  
Alexandra N. Kravchenko

Soil health connotes the balance of biological, physicochemical, nutritional, structural, and water-holding components necessary to sustain plant productivity. Despite a substantial knowledge base, achieving sustainable soil health remains a goal because it is difficult to simultaneously: (i) improve soil structure, physicochemistry, water-holding capacity, and nutrient cycling; (ii) suppress pests and diseases while increasing beneficial organisms; and (iii) improve biological functioning leading to improved biomass/crop yield. The objectives of this review are (a) to identify agricultural practices (APs) driving soil health degradations and barriers to developing sustainable soil health, and (b) to describe how the nematode community analyses-based soil food web (SFW) and fertilizer use efficiency (FUE) data visualization models can be used towards developing sustainable soil health. The SFW model considers changes in beneficial nematode population dynamics relative to food and reproduction (enrichment index, EI; y-axis) and resistance to disturbance (structure index, SI; x-axis) in order to identify best-to-worst case scenarios for nutrient cycling and agroecosystem suitability of AP-driven outcomes. The FUE model visualizes associations between beneficial and plant-parasitic nematodes (x-axis) and ecosystem services (e.g., yield or nutrients, y-axis). The x-y relationship identifies best-to-worst case scenarios of the outcomes for sustainability. Both models can serve as platforms towards developing integrated and sustainable soil health management strategies on a location-specific or a one-size-fits-all basis. Future improvements for increased implementation of these models are discussed.


Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Haddish Melakeberhan ◽  
ZinThuZar Maung ◽  
Isaac Lartey ◽  
Senol Yildiz ◽  
Jenni Gronseth ◽  
...  

Determining if the vast soil health degradations across the seven major soil groups (orders) of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) can be managed on the basis of a one-size-fits-all or location-specific approach is limited by a lack of soil group-based understanding of soil health degradations. We used the relationship between changes in nematode population dynamics relative to food and reproduction (enrichment, EI) and resistance to disturbance (structure, SI) indices to characterize the soil food web (SFW) and soil health conditions of Ferralsol, Lithosol and Nitosol soil groups in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. We applied bivariate correlations of EI, SI, soil pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), and texture (sand, silt and clay) to identify integrated indicator parameters, and principal component analysis (PCA) to determine how all measured parameters, soil groups, and countries align. A total of 512 georeferenced soil samples from disturbed (agricultural) and undisturbed (natural vegetation) landscapes were analyzed. Nematode trophic group abundance was low and varied by soil group, landscape and country. The resource-limited and degraded SFW conditions separated by soil groups and by country. EI and SI correlation with SOC varied by landscape, soil group or country. PCA alignment showed separation of soil groups within and across countries. The study developed the first biophysicochemical proof-of-concept that the soil groups need to be treated separately when formulating scalable soil health management strategies in SSA.


2020 ◽  
pp. 219-241
Author(s):  
Sanjeev Kumar ◽  
Samiksha ◽  
Premasis Sukul

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (12) ◽  
pp. 110-123
Author(s):  
Amrit Patel

World has been observing 5th December since 2012 as the World Soil Day to ensure maintenance of soil health, This was complimented by the United Nations’ General Assembly declaring 2015, as the International Year of Soils to create awareness among all stakeholders and promote more sustainable use of soil being the critical resource. On this occasion, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon had said that without healthy soils life on Earth would be unsustainable. Indeed, soils are the foundation of agriculture. He had urged all Governments to pledge to do more to protect this important yet forgotten resource. A healthy life is not possible without healthy soils. According to the Director General of the FAO, Jose Graziano da Silva, today, world has more than 805 million people facing hunger and malnutrition. Soils are under increased pressure because population growth will require an approximately increase of 60 per cent in food output and competing land uses.Unfortunately, 33 per cent of our global soil resources are under degradation and human pressures on soils are reaching critical limits, reducing and sometimes eliminating essential soil functions. He had emphasised the role of all stakeholders in promoting the cause of soils as it is important for paving the road towards a real sustainable development for all and by all. Against this background, this article briefly highlights the significance and aspects of soil health management in India and suggests aspects of strategic action plan to conserve this precious resource for the benefit of mankind.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (22) ◽  
pp. 4757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikel Anza ◽  
Oihane Salazar ◽  
Lur Epelde ◽  
José María Becerril ◽  
Itziar Alkorta ◽  
...  

Here, we aimed to bioremediate organically contaminated soil with Brassica napus and a bacterial consortium. The bioaugmentation consortium consisted of four endophyte strains that showed plant growth-promoting traits (three Pseudomonas and one Microbacterium) plus three strains with the capacity to degrade organic compounds (Burkholderia xenovorans LB400, Paenibacillus sp. and Lysinibacillus sp.). The organically contaminated soil was supplemented with rhamnolipid biosurfactant and sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate to increase the degradability of the sorbed contaminants. Soils were treated with organic amendments (composted horse manure vs. dried cow slurry) to promote plant growth and stimulate soil microbial activity. Apart from quantification of the expected decrease in contaminant concentrations (total petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), the effectiveness of our approach was assessed in terms of the recovery of soil health, as reflected by the values of different microbial indicators of soil health. Although the applied treatments did not achieve a significant decrease in contaminant concentrations, a significant improvement of soil health was observed in our amended soils (especially in soils amended with dried cow slurry), pointing out a not-so-uncommon situation in which remediation efforts fail from the point of view of the reduction in contaminant concentrations while succeeding to recover soil health.


Soil Research ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Quilty ◽  
S. R. Cattle

A wide range of organic amendments (OA) is currently available to Australian farmers. These products have numerous agronomic applications, including the supply of plant nutrients, control of pests and diseases, and in management of soil health. Several of these products are also used in contaminated and degraded land remediation. The most commonly identifiable groups of OA in Australia are composts, compost teas, vermicasts, humic substances, meat, blood and bone meal, fish hydrolysates, seaweed extracts, bio-inoculants, biodynamic products, and biochars. Many of these OA contain nutrients within organic molecular structures; these nutrients are usually not immediately available to plants and must first be mineralised. Mineralisation often occurs as OA are consumed by microbes, thereby stimulating soil microbial activity. The application of OA such as bio-inoculants, humic substances, and seaweed extracts can potentially stimulate crop growth and development through the actions of plant growth-promoting hormones, including cytokinins, auxins, and gibberellins. Yet despite these apparent benefits, the widespread adoption of OA in Australia has been limited, due in part to the high application rates required to produce agronomic benefits, a lack of consistency in the composition of some products, a poor public perception of their utility, and a lack of unbiased scientific research into the agricultural potential of these products.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2065
Author(s):  
Hammad Anwar ◽  
Xiukang Wang ◽  
Azhar Hussain ◽  
Muhammad Rafay ◽  
Maqshoof Ahmad ◽  
...  

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria with multiple growth-promoting traits play a significant role in soil to improve soil health, crop growth and yield. Recent research studies have focused on the integration of organic amendments with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) to enhance soil fertility and reduce the hazardous effects of chemical fertilizers. This study aims to evaluate the integrated application of biochar, compost, fruit and vegetable waste, and Bacillus subtilis (SMBL 1) to soil in sole application and in combined form. The study comprises eight treatments—four treatments without inoculation and four treatments with SMBL 1 inoculation in a completely randomized design (CRD), under factorial settings with four replications. The results indicate that the integrated treatments significantly improved okra growth and yield compared with sole applications. The integration of SMBL 1 with biochar showed significant improvements in plant height, root length, leaf chlorophyll a and b, leaf relative water content, fruit weight, diameter and length by 29, 29, 50, 53.3, 4.3, 44.7 and 40.4%, respectively, compared with control. Similarly, fruit N, P and K contents were improved by 33, 52.7 and 25.6% and Fe and Zn in shoot were 37.1 and 35.6%, respectively, compared with control. The results of this study reveal that the integration of SMBL 1 with organic amendments is an effective approach to the sustainable production of okra.


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