SpringerLink
Log in

Tools and Techniques to Measure Soil Health

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Advancements in Microbial Biotechnology for Soil Health

Part of the book series: Microorganisms for Sustainability ((MICRO,volume 50))

  • 150 Accesses

Abstract

Soil health is a serious concern in today’s scenario in respect to achieve higher crop yield and quality food for better human health. The soil health determines agricultural sustainability; therefore, there is urgent need a practices to improve soil quality for economic sustainability and environment. To acknowledge the fact that soil is an important resource from agriculture to human health, the year 2015 was named as “year of soil” by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. Nowadays, there are a number of tools and techniques available that broadly based on multitier soil health indicators such as physical, chemical, and biological. A complete suite of soil health assessment methods named as soil health card, Haney soil health test, Solvita soil health tests, and a comprehensive assessment of the soil health have been developed for the assessment of soil quality. Besides this, a continuous education, research, and outreach efforts are also required in decentralized manner to implement it among farmers for their adoption. In this chapter we have summarized the recent advances occurred in past years for the measurement of the soil health.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
EUR 29.95
Price includes VAT (France)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
EUR 139.09
Price includes VAT (France)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
EUR 179.34
Price includes VAT (France)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free ship** worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adamchuk VI, Hummel JW, Morgan MT, Upadhyaya SK (2004) On-the-go soil sensors for precision agriculture. Comput Electron Agric 44:71–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adhikari K, Hartemink AE (2016) Linking soils to ecosystem services—a global review. Geoderma 262:101–111

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews SS (1998) Sustainable agriculture alternatives: Ecological and managerial implications of poultry litter management alternatives applied to agronomic soils. (Ph.D. diss). University of Georgia, Athens

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews SS, Karlen DL, Cambardella CA (2004) The soil management assessment framework: a quantitative evaluation using case studies. Soil Sci Soc Am J 68:1945–1962

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bach HJ, Hartmann A, Schloter M, Munch JC (2001) PCR primers and functional probes for amplification and detection of bacterial genes for extracellular peptidases in single strains and in soil. J Microbiol Methods 44:173–182

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buyer JS, Sasser M (2012) High throughput phospholipid fatty acid analysis of soils. Appl Soil Ecol 61:127–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter MR, Gregorish EG, Angers DA, Beare MH, Sparling GP, Wardle DA, Voroney RP (1999) Interpretation of microbial biomass measurements for soil quality assessment in humid temperate regions. Can J Soil Sci 79:507–520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costantini EAC, Branquinho C, Nunes A, Schwilch G, Stavi I, Valdecantos A, Zucca C (2016) Soil indicators 212 to assess the effectiveness of restoration strategies in dryland ecosystems. Solid Earth 7(397–213):414

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimkpa C, Bindraban P, McLean JE, Gatere E, Singh U, Hellums D (2017) Methods for rapid testing of plant and soil nutrients. In: Sustainable agriculture reviews, vol 25. Springer, Cham, pp 1–43

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Doran JW, Safley M (1997) Defining and assessing soil-health and sustainable productivity. In: Pankhurst C, Doube BM, Gupta V (eds) Biological indicators of soil-health. CAB International, Wallingford, pp 1–28. Food security, farming, and climate change to 2050: Scenarios, results, policy options

    Google Scholar 

  • Eivazi F, Tabatabai MA (2002) Glucosidases and galactosidases in soils. Soil Biol Biochem 20:601–606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2021) Standard operating procedure for soil available phosphorus—Olsen method. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Grace PR, Weier KL (2007) Soil-health assessment users guide 2007 version 1. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. 47pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths BS, Römbke J, Schmelz RM, Scheffczyk A, Faber JH, Bloem J, Peres G, Cluzeau D, Chabbi A, Suhadolc M et al (2016) Selecting cost effective and policy-relevant biological indicators for European 293 monitoring of soil biodiversity and ecosystem function. Ecol Indic 69:213–223. Intl. Food Policy Res. Inst, 172: 20-28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo M (2021) Soil-health assessment and management: recent development in science and practice. Soil Syst 5:61

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Karlen DL, Andrews SS, Doran JW, Wienhold BJ (2003) Soil quality: Humankind’s foundation for survival. J Soil Water Conserv 58:171–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Kemper WD, Rosenau RC (1986) Aggregate stability and size distribution. Methods Soil Anal: Part 1 Phys Mineral Methods 5:425–442

    Google Scholar 

  • Ladd JN, Butler JHA (1972) Short-term assays of soil proteolytic enzyme activities using proteins and dipeptide derivates as substrates. Soil Biol Biochem 4:19–30

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Larson WE, Pierce FJ (1991) Conservation and enhancement soil quality. In: Dumanski J et al (eds) Evaluation for sustainable land management in the develo** world, Volume 2: Technical papers. Proceeding of the international workshop, Chiang Rai, Thailand. 15–21 Sept. 1991. International Board for Soil Research and Management, Bangkok, Thailand, pp 175–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann J, Bossio DA, Kögel-Knabner I et al (2020) The concept and future prospects of soil-health. Nat Rev Earth Environ 1:544–553

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • McBratney A, Minasny B, Wheeler I, Malone BP (2012). Frameworks for digital soil assessment. In: Minasny B, Malone BP, McBratney AB (eds.), Digital soil assessment and beyond. Taylor & Francis Group, London, pp. 9–14

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • McBratney A, Field DJ, Koch A (2014) The dimensions of soil security. Geoderma 213:203–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald RC, Isbell RF, Speight JG, Walker J, Hopkins MS (1990) Australian soil and land survey, field handbook, 2nd edn. Inkata Press, Melbourne, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • Moebius-Clune BN, Moebiue-Clune DJ, Gugino BK, Idowu O, Schindelbeck R, Rostow A, van Es HM, Thies J, Shyler H, McBride M et al (2017) Comprehensive assessment of soil-health, vol 2017, 3rd edn. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, pp 19–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Muñoz-Rojas M, Erickson TE, Martini D, Dixon KW, Merritt DJ (2016) Soil physicochemical and 231 microbiological indicators of short, medium and long term post-fire recovery in semi-arid 232 ecosystems. Ecol Indic 63:14–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson GC, Rosegrant MW, Palazzo A, Gray I, Ingersoll C, Robertson R, Msangi S (2010) Food security, farming, and climate change to 2050: scenarios, results, policy options. Int Food Policy Res Inst 172:20–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Neslson DW, Sommers LE (1996) Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Sparks DL et al (eds) Methods of soil analysis. Part 3, SSSA book series, Madison, WI, pp 961–1010

    Google Scholar 

  • Peverill KI, Sparrow LA, Reuter DJ (eds) (1999) Soil analysis—an interpretation manual. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood

    Google Scholar 

  • Richard M, Damian B, Melissa C, Doug C, Gemma H, Mark I, Tim J, Bernard N, Darryl P and Abdur R (2020). Tools and systems for assessing soil-health. Victoria Resources Online

    Google Scholar 

  • Schindlbeck JC, Kutterolf S, Freundt A, Alvarado GE, Wang KL, Straub SM, Hemming SR, Frische M, Woodhead JD (2016) Late Cenozoic tephrostratigraphy off shore the southern Central American Volcanic Arc: 1. Tephra ages and provenance. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 17(11):4641–4668. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GC006503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharpley A, Daniel TC, Sims JT, Pote DM (1996) Determining environmentally sound soil phosphorus levels. J Soil Water Conserv 51:160–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparling GP (1997) Soil microbial biomass, activity and nutrient cycling as indicators of soil-health. In: Pankhurst C, Doube BM, Gupta V (eds) Biological indicators of soil-health. CAB International, Wallingford, pp 97–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson FJ (1986) Cycles of soil: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, micronutrients. John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, p 367

    Google Scholar 

  • Twomlow S, Mugabe FT, Mwale M, Delve R, Nanja D, Carberry P, Howden M (2008) Building adaptive capacity to cope with increasing vulnerability due to climatic change in Africa—a new approach. Phys Chem Earth 33:780–787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Varvel GE (1994) Rotation and N fertilizer effects of changes in soil carbon and nitrogen. Agron J 86:319–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weil RR, Islam KR, Stine MA, Gruver JB, Samson Liebing SE (2003) Estimating active carbon for soil quality assessment: a simplified method for laboratory and field use. Am J Altern Agric 18:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Jansen B, Absalah S, Kalbitz K, Castro FO, Cammeraat EL (2022) Soil organic carbon content and mineralization controlled by the composition, origin and molecular diversity of organic matter: a study in tropical alpine grasslands. Soil Tillage Res 215:105203

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Central University of Rajasthan, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India

    Khem Raj Meena

  2. Department of Soil Sciences, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, India

    Sunita Meena

  3. Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India

    Rajendra Prasad Meena

  4. Centre for Advanced Studies on Climate Change, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, India

    Ashutosh Singh

  5. DBT-National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, India

    Arvind Kumar

Authors
  1. Khem Raj Meena
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sunita Meena
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rajendra Prasad Meena
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ashutosh Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Arvind Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Himachal Pradesh University, Summer Hill Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Ravi Kant Bhatia

  2. Department of Microbiology, College of Basic Sciences, CSK HPKV, Palampur, India

    Abhishek Walia

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Meena, K.R., Meena, S., Meena, R.P., Singh, A., Kumar, A. (2024). Tools and Techniques to Measure Soil Health. In: Bhatia, R.K., Walia, A. (eds) Advancements in Microbial Biotechnology for Soil Health. Microorganisms for Sustainability, vol 50. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-9482-3_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation