Soil quality is a concept that integrates soil biological, chemical, and physical factors into a framework for soil resource evaluation (Karlen et al., 1997). Larson and Pierce (1991) define soil quality as the capacity of a soil to function within the ecosystem boundaries and to interact positively with surrounding ecosystems. Conversion of forest and grasslands into agricultural land is one of the main concerns worldwide in the context of environmental degradation and global climate change (Wali et al., 1999). Conversion of natural land resources to crop production as the largest source of anthropogenic carbon emissions after fossil fuel burning, has resulted in the release of about 200 Pg C over the past 250 years, globally (Scholes and Noble, 2001; Fitzsimmons et al., 2004). It is also very well known that cultivation of the natural land resources brings about the loss of OM and this directly affects the soil chemical, physical, and biological properties resulting in loss of
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