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Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

Restoring Soil Quality to Mitigate Soil Degradation

Rattan Lal
- 13 May 2015 - 
- Vol. 7, Iss: 5, pp 5875-5895
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TLDR
In this paper, the authors proposed a strategy to minimize soil erosion, create positive organic carbon (SOC) and N budgets, enhance activity and species diversity of soil biota (micro, meso, and macro), and improve structural stability and pore geometry.
Abstract
Feeding the world population, 7.3 billion in 2015 and projected to increase to 9.5 billion by 2050, necessitates an increase in agricultural production of ~70% between 2005 and 2050. Soil degradation, characterized by decline in quality and decrease in ecosystem goods and services, is a major constraint to achieving the required increase in agricultural production. Soil is a non-renewable resource on human time scales with its vulnerability to degradation depending on complex interactions between processes, factors and causes occurring at a range of spatial and temporal scales. Among the major soil degradation processes are accelerated erosion, depletion of the soil organic carbon (SOC) pool and loss in biodiversity, loss of soil fertility and elemental imbalance, acidification and salinization. Soil degradation trends can be reversed by conversion to a restorative land use and adoption of recommended management practices. The strategy is to minimize soil erosion, create positive SOC and N budgets, enhance activity and species diversity of soil biota (micro, meso, and macro), and improve structural stability and pore geometry. Improving soil quality (i.e., increasing SOC pool, improving soil structure, enhancing soil fertility) can reduce risks of soil degradation (physical, chemical, biological and ecological) while improving the environment. Increasing the SOC pool to above the critical level (10 to 15 g/kg) is essential to set-in-motion the restorative trends. Site-specific techniques of restoring soil quality include conservation agriculture, integrated nutrient management, continuous vegetative cover such as residue mulch and cover cropping, and controlled grazing at appropriate stocking rates. The strategy is to produce “more from less” by reducing losses and increasing soil, water, and nutrient use efficiency.

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Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change

Sandra Díaz, +37 more
- 13 Dec 2019 - 
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The role of biochar and biochar-compost in improving soil quality and crop performance: A review

TL;DR: In this article, a review of 634 publications on biochar and biochar-compost mixtures as soil amendments is presented to identify the potential gaps in our understanding of the role of these amendments in agriculture.
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Soil Degradation, Land Scarcity and Food Security: Reviewing a Complex Challenge

Tiziano Gomiero
- 18 Mar 2016 - 
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the importance of preserving soil capital and its relationship to human civilization and food security, and discuss trends concerning the availability of arable agricultural land, different scenarios, and their limitations, analyzed and discussed.
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Biochar amendment improves crop production in problem soils: A review.

TL;DR: Information gathered from this review suggests that biochar amendment is a viable way of improving the quality of problem soils and enhancing crop production.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Low input tillage/cropping systems for limited resource areas

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed a sustainable tillage/cropping system that is suitable for the soil and climatic conditions in low-input cropping systems, which is based on sound biophysical principles and meet the needs of and he acceptable to the farming communities.

The Effect of Land Use Change on Soil and Water Quality in Northern Iran

TL;DR: Nahrkhoran et al. as discussed by the authors proposed a method to detect the presence of carcinogenic compounds in the environment using pH and pH parameters, which can be used to detect carcinogens.
Journal ArticleDOI

Soil fertility problems — an agriculture and forestry perspective

TL;DR: The loss of soil fertility is an important problem in large areas that have been utilised for agricultural production during the last 20 years as mentioned in this paper, and it is necessary to develop new solutions to restore soil fertility and to improve soil protection in agricultural and forest ecosystems.
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What hazards will a decrease in soil quality cause?

A decrease in soil quality can lead to hazards like accelerated erosion, loss of soil fertility, biodiversity decline, acidification, and salinization, hindering agricultural production and ecosystem services.