Soil Health in an Integrated Production System in a Brazilian Semiarid Region

Abstract

Soil health is directly related to sustainable development goals (SDGs) and can be affected by inadequate management practices. In this work, soil edaphic respiration and changes in microbial biomass promoted by cover crops in an integrated crop–livestock system (ICLS) were evaluated using soil health indicators with the respirometry method. The design was completely randomized in a 3 × 6 factorial arrangement, and multivariate principal components analysis (PCA) was performed according to MANOVA. Edaphic respiration was determined based on the respirometry technique. The results showed that edaphic soil respiration was significant in the nine evaluation periods, demonstrating the importance of grass cover in edaphic respiration arising from the biological activity of microorganisms, which is directly related to the amount of soil organic carbon. The cover crops increased soil organic matter and consequently microbial respiratory activity.

Quantifying the Spatial Distribution Pattern of Soil Diversity in Southern Xinjiang and Its Influencing Factors

“…The formation of soil arises from the integrated interactions of five key factors, namely parent material, climate, organisms, topography, and time [1]. Soil, being a fundamental element of land productivity, is among the most basic and significant components of land and the most vital life support within the biosphere [2][3][4]. However, a greater emphasis is placed on the perceived productivity of the soil rather than on its ecological significance, so the exploration of the inherent natural soil characteristics is often overlooked [5,6].…”