Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

A healthy soil acts as a dynamic living system that delivers multiple ecosystem services, such as sustaining water quality and plant productivity, controlling soil nutrient recycling decomposition, and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Soil health is closely associated with sustainable agriculture, because soil microorganism diversity and activity are the main components of soil health. Agricultural sustainability is defined as the ability of a crop production system to continuously produce food without environmental degradation. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), cyanobacteria, and beneficial nematodes enhance water use efficiency and nutrient availability to plants, phytohormones production, soil nutrient cycling, and plant resistance to environmental stresses. Farming practices have shown that organic farming and tillage improve soil health by increasing the abundance, diversity, and activity of microorganisms. Conservation tillage can potentially increase grower’s profitability by reducing inputs and labor costs as compared to conventional tillage while organic farming might add extra management costs due to high labor demands for weeding and pest control, and for fertilizer inputs (particularly N-based), which typically have less consistent uniformity and stability than synthetic fertilizers. This review will discuss the external factors controlling the abundance of rhizosphere microbiota and the impact of crop management practices on soil health and their role in sustainable crop production.

Integrated Nutrient Management Significantly Improves Pomelo (Citrus grandis) Root Growth and Nutrients Uptake under Acidic Soil of Southern China

“…Integrated nutrient management (INM) aims for optimal soil fertility and plant nutrition, increasing fertilizer input efficiency, decreasing environmental risks, and improving crop productivity through root/rhizosphere management [9]. Various models have been presented for sustainable soil management to increase the yield and produce nutritious and healthy products [22,23]. Regarding management methods, the application of organic and inorganic sources of nutrient elements has been used to obtain optimum productivity [9].…”

An Assessment of Treated Greywater Reuse in Irrigation on Growth and Protein Content of Prosopis and Albizia

“…A higher growth rate can be attributed to higher nutrient levels in greywater water compared to control (Table 1). Nutrient levels play a key role in plant morpho-physiology such as photosynthesis, root and shoot growth, and flower and fruit quality [27][28][29][30][31]. The significant increase in shoot growth is coupled normally with a reduction in nutrient and protein concentration in the tissues due to the dilution effect [32].…”

Chemical and Biological Characteristics of Organic Amendments Produced from Selected Agro-Wastes with Potential for Sustaining Soil Health: A Laboratory Assessment

“…It has been reported that NF can contribute to a holistic production management system that promotes and enhances agroecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity [1][2][3]. Maintaining soil health, which includes the physical, chemical, and biological components, is a very crucial aspect in humanity's quest for sustainable agriculture, particularly crop production [4].…”