Increased awareness of the role of soil structure in defining the physical fertility or quality of soil has led to the need for a simple assessment relevant to the environmental and economic sustainability of soil productivity. A test is required that is usable by farmer, consultant and researcher alike. Here an assessment of soil structure quality (Sq) is described which is based on a visual key linked to criteria chosen to be as objective as possible. The influences of operator, tillage and crop type on Sq value were tested. The test takes 5–15 min per location and enough replicates were obtained for statistical comparison of data sets. The assessments of individual operators were influenced to an extent by differences between fields, making the use of multiple operators desirable. Differences in soil management were revealed by the test and related to differences in soil physical properties (bulk density, penetration resistance and porosity) and crop growth. Indicative thresholds of soil management are suggested. The assessment should be viewed as complementary to conventional laboratory assessments of soil structure. Visual soil structure assessment can indicate to the soil scientist where to sample and what soil measurements are likely to be worthwhile.

Tillage and rotation are fundamental factors influencing soil quality and thus the sustainability of cropping systems. Many studies have focused on the effects of either tillage or rotation, but few have quantified the long term integrated effects of both. We studied the issue using a 30-year old long-term rotation and tillage treatment experiment on a Canadian silt loam soil. Topsoil measurements were carried out for three different rotations: R1 (C-C-C-C) continuous corn (Zea mays L.), R6. (C-C-O(RC), B(RC)) corn, corn, oats (Avena fatua L.) and spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and R8, (C-C-S-S) corn, corn, soybean (Glycine max L.), soybean. A red clover (Trifolium pretense L.) cover crop was under seeded in oats and spring barley in R6. In 2010, first year corn was grown in R6 and R8. The tillage treatments included no tillage, NT and mouldboard ploughing, MP. Topsoil structural quality was visually evaluated in early June and mid October.Minimal disturbed soil cores collected in early June were used for X-ray CT scanning and to quantify water content and porosity. Soil friability was determined on the soil samples using a drop shatter test. Crop yield was determined and correlated to the soil quality estimates. We found significant effect of both rotation and tillage on visual soil structure at both times of assessment.Poor soil structure was found for NT except when combined with a diverse crop rotation (R6). The soil core pore characteristics data also displayed a significant effect of tillage but only a weak insignificant effect of rotation. The drop shatter results were in accordance with the visual assessment data. Crop yield correlated significantly with the visual soil structure scores. We conclude that a diverse crop rotation was needed for an optimal performance of NT for the studied soil.

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Summary Long‐term cultivation of soils for arable crops and without application of organic manure is thought to reduce the soil quality for crop production. We studied the porosity of two sandy loam soils from organic dairy farms with a ley cropping system and compared them with a conventionally managed dairy farm growing arable crops only and an arable soil receiving only mineral fertilizers, respectively. Saturated hydraulic conductivity, water retention characteristics, air diffusivity and air permeability were determined in the plough layer of the soil. The soil of one of the organic dairy farms contained many more earthworm burrows and had a significantly larger hydraulic conductivity than the counterpart soil of the conventionally managed dairy farm. In other respects, these two soils were much alike. The soil of the other organically managed dairy farm was less dense and had a larger volume of pores > 30 μm than the arable soil receiving only mineral fertilizers. A tube model was used to combine the air exchange measurements in a description of the soil pores. The pore system of the mineral fertilized soil consisted of continuous arterial pores with only a small volume of blocked and marginal pores embedded in the soil matrix next to the arterial pores. The porosity of the counterpart organic dairy farm soil had a considerable volume of blocked and especially marginal pores. The complexity of the latter was considered beneficial for local aeration in the soil and for derived soil properties such as fragmentation on tillage.

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