Soil Health -An International Perspective

摘要

Soil health has been defined by Doran and Zeiss as: "... the capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land use boundaries ... to sustain plant and animal production, maintain or enhance water and air quality and promote plant and animal health. Healthy soils are the ones which sustain biological productivity, store and cycle water and nutrients, decompose organic matter, inactivate toxic compounds, suppress pathogens, protect water quality and enhance catchment's health."(1) Selected components of soil health are discussed below. These are soil drainage, replant, disease and nitrogen utilization efficiency as a soil health indicator. Comparisons based on experiences gained in two tree fruit industries with contrasting soil-tree-climate associations are made in Figure 2.