Search results for "SOIL HEALTH"
showing 8 items of 18 documents
Links Between Soil Security and the Influence of Soil on Human Health
2017
Soil is important to human health because of (1) food availability and quality, (2) human contact with various chemicals in soil, (3) human contact with soil organisms, and (4) disposal of wastes. The five dimensions of soil security each have ties to soils and their influence on human health. Capability is related to the ability of soils to produce adequate and high-quality food and filter waste products to provide a clean environment, particularly clean, safe water supplies. Condition influences the nutritional quality of agricultural products produced in a given soil. Capital recognizes that there is value to the services soil provides in promoting human health, costs when soil constitue…
Connecting the public with soil to improve human health
2019
Despite the definite links between soil and human health, it is likely that most people do not think about soil when considering human health. There is a disconnect between most people in our modern society and soil, and when people notice soil it is often in a negative context. People care for things that matter to them, and creating a more positive public image of soil could improve human health by leading to better treatment and understanding of the soil resource. There are a number of concepts that may be able to connect people to the soil, including terroir, soil health and soil security. While terroir originally established a connection between those who appreciate wine and the soils …
The role of soils in regulation and provision of blue and green water
2021
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims for clean water and sanitation for all by 2030, through eight subgoals dealing with four themes: (i) water quantity and availability, (ii) water quality, (iii) finding sustainable solutions and (iv) policy and governance. In this opinion paper, we assess how soils and associated land and water management can help achieve this goal, considering soils at two scales: local soil health and healthy landscapes. The merging of these two viewpoints shows the interlinked importance of the two scales. Soil health reflects the capacity of a soil to provide ecosystem services at a specific location, taking into account local climate and soil condit…
Soil as a Support of Biodiversity and Functions
2014
The soil is a major reservoir of biological diversity on our planet. It also shelters numerous biological and ecological processes and therefore contributes to the production of a considerable number of ecosystem services. Among the ecological, social and economic services identified, the role of soil as a reservoir of diversity has now been well established, along with its role in nutrient cycling, supporting primary productivity, pollution removal and storing carbon. Since the development of industrialization, urbanization and agriculture, soils have been subjected to numerous variations in environmental conditions, which have resulted in modifications of the diversity of the indigenous m…
Biogeography of soil microbial communities: a review and a description of the ongoing french national initiative
2010
International audience; Microbial biogeography is the study of the distribution of microbial diversity on large scales of space and time. This science aims at understanding biodiversity regulation and its link with ecosystem biological functioning, goods and services such as maintenance of productivity, of soil and atmospheric quality, and of soil health. Although the initial concept dates from the early 20th century (Beijerinck (1913) De infusies en de ontdekking der backterien, in: Jaarboek van de Knoniklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Muller, Amsterdam), only recently have an increasing number of studies have investigated the biogeographical patterns of soil microbial diversity. A such …
Influence de différentes pratiques agricoles sur la qualité et la santé des sols : étude de cas sur des vergers slovènes irrigués ou en agriculture b…
2011
Underestimation of soil properties and poor understanding of soil conditions can have many negative consequences, which results in quality or quantity of yield, soil degradation or even environmental pollution. According to importance of agricultural practices, our study focused on their impact on soil quality and health. The research took place from November 2003 to October 2007 in apple orchards in north-eastern Slovenia where two frequent agricultural practices were investigated: (i) drip irrigation on Calcaric Cambisol and its effects on structural stability and microbial biomass at Gačnik experimental station and (ii) combination of organic fertiliser (Campo guano) and liming in organi…
The use of barley straw residues to avoid high erosion and runoff rates on persimmon plantations in Eastern Spain under low frequency-high magnitude …
2016
[EN] Soil and water losses due to agricultural mismanagement are high and non-sustainable in many orchards. An experiment was set up with rainfall simulation at 78 mm h(-1) over 1 hour on 20 paired plots of 2 m(2) (bare and straw covered) in new persimmon plantations in Eastern Spain. Effects of straw cover on the control of soil and water losses were assessed. An addition of 60% straw cover (75 gm(-2)) resulted in delayed ponding and runoff generation and consequently reduced water losses from 60% to 13% of total rainfall. The straw cover reduced raindrop impact and thus sediment detachment from 1014 to 47 g plot(-1) h(-1). The erosion rate was reduced from 5.1 to 0.2 Mg ha-(1) h(-1). The …
Straw uses trade-off only after soil organic carbon steady-state
2018
Soil organic matter (SOM) is the key for a healthy soil and a relevant property to achieve the sustainability on soil management. However, soils are still net exporters of organic matter. One example is the use of wheat straw residue for industrial and energy applications, which has gained attention in the last years. The offfarm use of this abundant and low cost resource should follow sustainability criteria to avoid soil degradation and SOM losses. Straw residue incorporation is recognized as a recommended management practice to control erosion and mitigate CO2 emissions by increasing SOM. The goal of this work was: i) to evaluate the steady-state carbon (C) level in relation to C input a…