Abstract
Soil health indicators are a composite set of measurable physical, chemical, and biological attributes which relate to functional soil processes and are being used to evaluate soil health status. A range of soil health indicators have been developed to measure and asses changes in soil properties and functioning to understand soil health as a tool for sustainability. The physical, chemical, and biological indicators must be employed to verify soil status use and to undertake remedial management measures within a desired timescale. Soil properties which can change rapidly in response to natural or anthropogenic actions are considered as good soil health indicators. Among the physical indicators, bulk density, soil aggregate stability, and water holding capacity have been found ideal indicators. Chemical indicators such as pH, EC, soil organic carbon, and soil nutrient status are well established. However, most of them generally have a slow response, as compared to the microbiological and biochemical properties, such as soil enzymes, soil respiration, mycorrhiza, lipid profiling, and earthworms as they change rapidly due to perturbation caused by different agricultural management paradigm. Thus, systemic approaches based on different kinds of indicators (physical, chemical, and biological) in assessing soil health are discussed in this chapter.
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