Year: 2007
Type: report
Abstract: Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living system, by recognizing that it contains biological elements that are key to ecosystem function within land-use boundaries (Doran and Zeiss, 2000; Karlen et al., 2001). These functions are able to sustain biological productivity of soil, maintain the quality of surrounding air and water environments, as well as promote plant, animal, and human health (Doran et al., 1996). The concept of soil quality emerged in the literature in the early 1990s (Doran and Safely, 1997; Wienhold et al., 2004), and the first official application of the term was approved by the Soil Science Society of America Ad Hoc Committee on Soil Quality (S-581) and discussed by Karlen et al., (1997). Soil quality was been defined as ‘‘the capacity of a reference soil to function, within natural or managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and support human health and habitation.’ ’ Subsequently the two terms are used interchangeably (Karlen et al., 2001) although it is important to distinguish that, soil quality is related to soil function (Karlen et al., 2003; Letey et al, 2003), whereas soil
Source: eCommons (Cornell University)
Author: James Kinyangi
Language: English
Subfield: Soil Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7006104317