An understanding of the nature of soils in natural and human influence ecosystems is essential if progress is to be made in the determination and monitoring of soil quality. This paper briefly discuss the changing circumstances which have resulted in the increased awareness of the importance of soil as a key component of both natural and human influenced environmental systems. These changed cir...

the peak temperature in the sample was directly measured while the laser power was slowly increased. As soon as melting occurred in the hottest portion of the sample, the absorption increased drastically, leading to "runaway" melting and subsequent melting phenomena [figure 2B of (1)]. The melting temperatures we reported are the last temperatures of the solid before melting set in. We stated (...

Management systems influence soil quality over time. A randomized block design in 2 (tillage system) 3 (crop rotation) factorial arrangement was laid-out to evaluate the impact of tillage and crop rotation (2002–2007) on soil quality. Conventional tillage and No-till were factored into continuous corn, corn–soybean, and corn–soybean–wheat–Cowpea systems. Ten soil cores were collected at 0–7.5, ...

Re-vegetation is an important practice for eco-environmental rebuilding of degraded environments. Accordingly, re-vegetation has been widely used to reduce erosion and protect soils against degradation in the Loess Plateau. However, little research has been conducted to study the effects of long-term re-vegetation on soil properties, which is essential to reveal corresponding changes in soil qu...

Developing the concept of soil quality may help identify the soil and crop management practices required for environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable agriculture. Objectives of this paper are (1) to review current efforts to define soil quality, (2) to discuss factors and processes which influence soil quality, (3) to identify, soil and crop management practices that affect proce...

Information of spatial and temporal variations of soil quality (soil properties) is required for various purposes of sustainable agriculture development and management. Traditionally, soil quality characterization is done by in situ point soil sampling and subsequent laboratory analysis. Such methodology has limitation for assessing the spatial variability of soil quality. Various researchers i...

This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of municipal waste compost and manure on soil chemical and physical properties quality and crop production in Sari city (north of Iran). In this study, the effect of compost and manure (cow and sheep) on the quality of soil organic material with experimental measurements was investigated. An experiment was conducted in a completely randomized desi...

Soil quality has been significantly degraded in the Loess Plateau of China by soil erosion. Our objectives were to (i) identify regional-scale soil quality factors (groupings), (ii) select soil attributes within these factors that can be used as indicators of soil quality, and (iii) determine the impact of land use on these soil quality factors and indicators for the Loess Plateau in China. Soi...

Organic agriculture is an ecological production management system aimed at sustainableproduction of safe food, environmental protection and maintenance of soil health. The objectiveof this study was to evaluate, in a period of organic transition, the effects of different organicfertilizers on wheat yield, grain quality and soil characteristics. The research was performedin an experimental farm ...