Soil health

Soil health can be defined as the optimum status of the soil's biological, physical and chemical functions. This means healthy soils can sustain plant and animal productivity and soil biodiversity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and support human and animal health.

Some characteristics of healthy soils include good soil tilth, good soil drainage, a large population of microorganisms, sufficient (but not excessive) levels of essential nutrients and water. The key to soil health is organic matter. Organic matter contains organic carbon and nitrogen. Carbon is a source of energy and nitrogen is a source of protein for microorganisms in the soil. Some of the microorganisms are pathogens that cause plant disease but in healthy soil, the vast majority of these organisms are beneficial and help prevent any one type of organism such as a plant pathogen from being dominant.

To understand soil health and how different human activities (i.e., cultivation, land use, etc.) impact it, we need to understand the soil. The soil also contains micro and macro organisms that support plant, animal and human life. When organic matter breaks down, it is transformed into different pools as sources of plant nutrients at various degrees of availability and eventually forms the final product called humus. This product becomes the central building block of healthy soil. Therefore, the maintenance of soil organic matter (SOM) is critical to the health and productivity of the soil; providing a stable soil physical structure for water storage, nutrient exchange with plant roots, aeration and a healthy microbial community will enhance soil health for healthy plant growth.

SOM consists of three distinct parts:

Living organic matter (about 15%) consists mainly of bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, protozoa, and algae, which are also called decomposers. Other living SOM include nematodes, insects, earthworms, plant roots and small animals
Dead organic matter (about 15%) serves as food for living organisms and includes dead microbes, old plant roots, crop residues and bodies of larger insects and animals and 3) Very dead organic matter (about 70%) are well decomposed, dark colored organic substances also called humus. Humus continues to decompose but at a very slow rate.

testing soil

Why is SOM important?

Organic matters improve many physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the soil, including water-holding capacity, cation exchange capacity, pH buffering capacity, and chelating of micronutrients. Furthermore, well-decomposed SOM improves soil structure by increasing aggregation, enhancing biological activities in the soil, slowly releasing nutrients, and suppressing some diseases. A loss of SOM can lead to soil erosion, loss of fertility, compaction, and general land degradation.

What factors influence the amount of SOM?

Any factor that affects soil microbial activity also affects SOM breakdown.

Temperature: Soil temperature has a marked influence on microbial activity. The optimum soil temperatures for bacterial activity are in the 21 to 38°C range.
Oxygen: Soil microbes require oxygen and water for their respiration and when soil is compacted or saturated with water, respiration slows down which in turn reduces decomposition of SOM.
Soil pH: Under acid conditions, bacterial activity, which is responsible for most of the decomposition of organic matter, is greatly reduced. Soil fungi responsible for breakdown of SOM are generally less affected by low pH.

The average SOM in most soils ranges between 1-5 %. The maintenance and enhancement of soil organic matter is crucial to the soil health and sustainability of farming systems. The accumulation of SOM within the soil is a balance between the return or addition of plant and animal residues and their subsequent loss due to the decay of these residues by microorganisms and the mismanagement of soil. Use of soil amendments such as manure, compost and/or on-time establishment of cover crops is necessary.

Increasing the percentage of organic matter in the soil takes time and patience. It is unlikely that a single incorporation of manure or planting cover crop will noticeably increase the percentage of organic matter. Repeated application of an organic amendment in combination with reduced tillage will improve the organic matter level.

Healthy soil can help fight climate change

Removing carbon from the atmosphere is key to limiting the negative effects of climate change. Soil is our largest terrestrial carbon sink. There are currently about 2,500 gigatons of carbon trapped in the earth’s soil - three times more carbon than is in our atmosphere and four times more than is stored in all living plants and animals combined. Despite these impressive numbers, soil’s potential to store carbon is vastly under-utilized since roughly 40 percent of the soil used in global agriculture is classified as either degraded or severely degraded, meaning its carbon-storage capacity is decreased. Increasing SOM in globally available topsoil could play a major role in our fight against climate change.

The 4 per 1000 is an initiative launched at the 2015 United Nations Conference on climate change to increase global carbon levels in soil by 0.4 percent. This would dramatically reduce the amount of carbon present in our atmosphere.

In addition to removing carbon from the atmosphere, healthy soil is also proving essential in combating some of the effects experienced by the climate crisis such as food insecurity caused by flooding, droughts and prolonged periods of precipitation. Healthy soil can better hold and absorb water and improve crops’ resilience to droughts and flooding.

Coming to Eurofins Sac Ky Hai Dang's soil analysis and assessment service, you will better understand the health of your soil.

soil carbon check

Eurofins Sac Ky Hai Dang always accompanies businesses and follows the policies of the State, towards a sustainable, high-yield and efficient Agriculture industry. Not only providing solutions to increase productivity and optimal quality for agricultural products, through our service of soil analysis, assessment and fertilizer recommendations, but our valued customers can also learn more about methods of fertilizer and soil management to maintain or improve soil fertility for sustainable agricultural production.

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