Concept and Assessment Methodology of Soil Quality: A Review

Abstract

Soil analysis is commonly used to gauge its quality and suitability for diverse purposes from local to national evaluations. However, the complexity of soils, their site-specific traits, past land use impacts, and balancing ecosystem benefits pose significant challenges in identifying relevant parameters and interpreting measurements. This manuscript comprehensively reviews and examines the concept and assessment methodologies of soil quality. It is evaluated to learn about the effects of management practices on soil function. Sustainability of agriculture system is inwardly linked to maintenance of soil quality. Therefore, soil quality assessment is of paramount importance to know the appropriate management practices to be adopted for sustainable crop production. By just measuring yield of crop, quality of water or any other, soil quality cannot be judged. As we know, soil have different properties (chemical, physical and biological), that interact in a precipitously manner to give, soil its capacity to perform or function. Thus, soil capacity can be surmised from measuring changes in its properties or of ecosystem’ sattributes and cannot be measured directly. Assessment of Soil quality composed of three key steps (1) Selection, measurement and minimization of the set of relevant soil attributes. (2) Quantification of the selected soil attributes through direct measurement and assigning an appropriate Score. (3) Integration among the scored attributes to construct the final index, by providing criteria for defining the weight of each attribute or group of attributes. Soil quality assessment will allow interpreter to identify the attributes which are most significant, quantify the relative contribution of soil properties and subsequently assess the overall quality of soils. The review study aims to inspire researchers by integrating a detailed information on soil quality assessment and promoting the sustainable practices in preservation and enhancement of soil quality.