Soil Physical Quality and Management Practices
Summary
Soil physical quality is determined by the arrangement and interaction of particles and pore spaces that govern water movement, gas exchange and root exploration. Key attributes include texture, structure, porosity and density, which collectively influence infiltration rates, moisture availability and resistance to root penetration. Management practices such as conventional and reduced tillage, no-tillage, organic and mineral amendments, cover cropping and crop–livestock integration each exert distinct effects on these attributes. Strategic interventions can enhance aggregate stability, expand the range of plant-available water and alleviate compaction, thereby supporting crop productivity, ecosystem services and climate resilience. Advances in sensor-based monitoring, pedotransfer functions and process-based modelling now allow more precise evaluation and prediction of soil physical responses to management. Globally, optimised soil physical quality underpins sustainable intensification, carbon sequestration and mitigation of land degradation in diverse agroecosystems.
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Soil Physical Quality and Management Practices publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in soil physical quality and management practices across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Bulk density: Mass of dry soil per unit volume including pore space, indicating compaction level.
Porosity: Fraction of soil volume occupied by pores; subdivided into macropores (large) and micropores (small).
Water retention curve: Relationship between soil moisture content and matric potential, guiding irrigation and rooting estimations.
Aggregate stability: Resistance of soil aggregates to breakdown by water or mechanical forces, critical for erosion control and porosity maintenance.
References
- Impact of a synthetic zeolite mixed with soils of different pedological characteristics on soil physical quality indices. Geoderma (2024).
- Biological soil loosening by grasses from genus Brachiaria in crop-livestock integration. Acta Scientiarum Agronomy (2015).
- Effects of Land Use on Soil Physical-Hydric Attributes in Two Watersheds in the Southern Amazon, Brazil. Soil Systems (2023).
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