Indices of Soil Health and their Significance in Sustaining Crop Productivity

摘要

The concept of soil health has gained importance recently,because it plays an important role in sustaining crop productivity.The current version of the soil management assessment factors(SMAF)for assessing soil health has scoring curves for indicators such as bulk density,aggregate stability,available water capacity and water filled pores as physical indicators,pH,electrical conductivity,organic carbon,sodium adsorption ratio and extractable P as chemical indicators and microbial biomass and potentially mineralisable N as biological indicators.Total 60 potential indicators have been identified for use in future for assessing soil quality/health.