Description
Book SynopsisVisual Soil Evaluation provides land users and environmental authorities with the tools to assess soil quality for crop performance. An important tool for ensuring food security, this book appraises the use of visual soil evaluation in determining the potential of different land types for carbon storage, greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient leaching. Providing a guide to diagnosing and rectifying soil problems, it includes: - Full colour illustrations throughout to show variation of soil quality and aid evaluation - A broad range of land types, from abandoned peats to prime arable land - Assessment of soil structure after quality degradation such as compaction, erosion or organic matter loss Essential reading for students, researchers and scientists interested in soil science and crop production, this book is also a valuable tool for policy makers and environmental authorities. A useful handbook assessing yield potential across a range of scales, it places visual soil evaluation in the context of the future sustainable intensification of agriculture.
Table of Contents1: Describing soil structures, rooting and biological activity and recognising tillage effects, damage and recovery from damage in clayey and sandy soils 2: Assessing structural quality for crop performance and for agronomy (VESS, VSA, SOILpak, Profil Cultural, SubVESS) 3: Reduction of yield gaps and improvement of ecological function through local-to-global applications of visual soil assessment 4: Visual evaluation of grassland and arable management impacts on soil quality 5: Choosing and evaluating soil improvements by subsoiling and compaction control 6: Valuing the Neglected: lessons and methods from an organic, anthropic soil system in the Outer Hebrides 7: Evaluating land quality for carbon storage, greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient leaching 8: Soil structure under adverse weather/climate conditions 9: The expanding discipline and role of Visual Soil Evaluation
