Sustainable soil management

Abstract

Soil is threatened by the increase of human population, intensive management, urbanization and degradation. Sustainable Soil Management (SSM) is one of the main key factors both for significant crop production and for environment conservation. Conservation tillage techniques, especially applied together with the permanent maintenance of mulch cover on the soil surface as well as the diversification of cropping system (Conservation Agriculture (CA) system), induce positive changes to soil properties and characteristics. Additional C is sequestered from the atmosphere reducing climate change and increasing net C accumulation in long periods. In term of physical aspects, soil porosity, thanks to increased density of storage pores and elongated transmission pores, increases, saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity improves, more stable aggregates are found, and, as consequence, water holding capacity and water use efficiency ameliorate while soil erosion reduces. The soil pH, CEC, exchangeable cations, and soil principal macronutrients availability, especially at surface layer level, are found to improve as well as soil biota including both invertebrates and microorganisms thanks to an increased densities and diversity. Thanks to the numerous positive effects on soil health, sustainable soil management in turn affect positively crop yield, thanks to better root growth development, higher water and nutrient availability, profitable interaction with microorganisms.