Assessing the soil quality and crop yield potentials of some soils of Eurasia

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to quantify soil quality in agricultural landscapes over large regions. For this purpose, representative soil catenas and single soil pits were dug, analysed and classified on test sites in Russia, Kazakhstan and Germany. Soil quality and crop yield potentials were assessed using the Muencheberg Soil Quality Rating (M-SQR) method. This method is based on the rating of indicators relevant to crop yield. The results show that the estimation of all components of the site-specific water balance and drought risk assessment is key for the evaluation of soil functions in agricultural landscapes. We found close correlations between the overall soil quality rating score and grain yields of cereals. The suitability of the M-SQR approach to assess soil quality and crop yield potentials consistently over spatial scales of Eurasia has been confirmed.