SOIL QUALITY MONITORING FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Abstract

Soil and crop management practices may have impacts on the natural environment and induce changes in soil. A fundamental task of soil monitoring systems is to serve as a tool for land management in sense of sustainable development. In spite of the fact, that this task is common to all countries nowadays, there are still differences in metodologies and indicators of soil quality. Diversity of soil types may hinder identification of soil quality factors and indicators at a national scale. Assessment of soil quality is the basis for assessing sustainable soil management in this century. The objective of this paper was to identifay some soil physical, chemical and biological indicators for soil quality monitoring in sustainable agricultural management at national level. In many ways, soil quality is one measure of ecosystem health. Conserving soil quqlity means protecting the full range of ecological services high-quality soils provide.

Keywords

• Soil quality
• sustainability in agricultural production
• indicators