The document discusses soil quality, emphasizing its two components: innate qualities and dynamic qualities, and defines it as the capacity of soil to function within its ecosystem to sustain productivity and maintain environmental quality. Factors affecting soil quality include topography, climate, parent material, time, and living organisms. It highlights the importance of healthy soil for water storage, nutrient supply, and overall ecosystem health, and outlines various physical, chemical, and biological indicators for assessing soil quality.

1. Soil Quality and
Health
SSAC 4th Semester Project
Kishlay Ranjan

2. Soil Quality
Soil Quality mainly encompasses two distinct but
related parts
1. Innate Qualities (Soil Formation & Characteristics)
2. Dynamic Qualities (Soil Erosion & Management)
The integration of growth-enhancing factors
that makes a soil productive has often been
referred to as "soil quality“ or How well soil
does what we want it to do.
As per USDA(1994) Soil quality can be defined as
The capacity of a specific kind of soil to
function, within its natural or managed
ecosystem boundaries, to sustain animal and
plant productivity, maintain or enhance air and
water quality and support human health and
habitats.
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3. Factors Affecting Soil Quality
1. Topography
2. Climate
3. Parent Material
4. Time
5. Living Organism
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5. “
Soil Quality
Capacity of a soil to function
within its ecosystem boundary to
sustain biological productivity,
maintain environmental quality
and promote plant and animal
health
-Doran & Parkin, 1994
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6. IMPORTANCE OF SOIL QUALITY
❧ Soils are the storehouses for water and nutrients. Plants draw on these
stores as needed to produce roots, stems, leaves, and, eventually, food
and fiber for human consumption.
❧ The soil matrix is the major incubation chamber for the decomposition
of organic wastes, for example, pesticides, sewage, and solid wastes.
❧ The reason that soil quality matters is that healthy soil can store and
process more water. Poor quality, depleted soil, won't hold water and
will make it impossible for your plants to thrive and survive.
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8. Big concept
The soil quality concept recognises the concern for the sustainability of
current arable land use practices. It integrates soil chemical, physical
and biological properties, and takes account of the interaction of soil
with water and air.
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9. It cannot be determined by measuring only
crop yield, water quality, or any other single
outcome it is an assessment of how it
performs all of its functions now and how
those functions are being preserved for
future use.
Soil quality cannot be measured directly, so
we evaluate indicators. Indicators can be
physical, chemical, and biological
characteristics.
ASSESSMENT OF SOIL QUALITY
Indicators are measurable properties of soil
or plants that provide clues about how well
the soil can function.
Useful indicators Means:
• Should be easy to measure.
• Measure changes in soil functions
• Re accessible to many users and applicable
in field conditions.
• Are sensitive to variations in climate and
management.
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10. Soil Quality parameters
Physical Factor
• Soil depth & Water
Holding Capacity
• Physical environment-
Structure, Aeration,
Drainage, Texture, Density
• Soil Erosion- Water and
Wind Erosion
Chemical Factors
Nutrient Availability-
Capacity & Intensity Factor
• Soil Reaction- Acidic,
Saline, Sodic Soil
• Presence of toxic elements
• Ion Exchange
Phenomena(CEC & AEC)
Biological Factors
Microorganisms present
and their interaction among
themselves
• Earth worms activities
• Soil Enzyme Activity
• Organic Matter content
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11. Soil Health
Soil health has been defined as the "the continued
capacity of soil to function as a vital living system,
within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to
sustain biological productivity, promote the
quality of air and water environments, and
maintain plant, animal, and human health"
(Pankhurst et al., 1997).
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12. 12
Soil Physical Indicators Selected for Assessing the Soil Quality

13. Soil Quality Index
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14. Methods Of Assessment
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15. Farmers Method
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1. Farmer who work daily with soils usually note that
some of their fields perform better than others .
2. They tend to judge the quality or condition of their soils
by such observable factors as the performance of the crop
plants, the colors associated with accumulation of organic
matter, the ease of tillage ,the presence of standing water
after rain storms.

16. Thanks!
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