Visual Soil Evaluation (VSE) provides land users and environmental authorities with the tools to assess soil quality for crop performance. This book describes the assessment of the various structural conditions of soil, especially after quality degradation such as compaction, erosion or organic matter loss. Covering a broad range of land types from abandoned peats to prime arable land, this useful handbook assesses yield potential across a range of scales. It also appraises the use of VSE in determining the potential of different land types for carbon storage, greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient leaching, and for diagnosing and rectifying erosion and compaction in soils.

Changing land-use practices and the role of soil biological diversity has been a major focus of soil science research over the past couple of decades—a trend that is likely to continue. The information presented in this book points to a holistic approach to soil management. The first part looks at the land use effects on soil carbon storage, and considers a range of factors including carbon sequestration in soils. The second part of the book presents research investigating the interactions between soil properties, plant species, and the soil biota.

Interpreting Soil Test Results is a practical reference enabling soil scientists, environmental scientists, environmental engineers, land holders and others involved in land management to better understand a range of soil test methods and interpret the results of these tests. It also contains a comprehensive description of the soil properties relevant to many environmental and natural land resource issues and investigations. This new edition has an additional chapter on soil organic carbon store estimation and an extension of the chapter on soil contamination. It also includes sampling guidelines for landscape design and a section on trace elements. The book updates and expands sections covering acid sulfate soil, procedures for sampling soils, levels of nutrients present in farm products, soil sodicity, salinity and rainfall erosivity. It includes updated interpretations for phosphorus in soils, soil pH and the cation exchange capacity of soils. Interpreting Soil Test Results is ideal reading for students of soil science and environmental science and environmental engineering; professional soil scientists, environmental scientists, engineers and consultants; and local government agencies and as a reference by solicitors and barristers for land and environment cases.

Determination of soil salinity from aqueous electrical conductivity; determination of soil salinity from soil-paste and bulk soil electrical conductivity; example uses of salinity assessment technology; operational and equipment costs associated with salinity instrumentation measurement techniques.

This open access book is an outcome of the collaboration between the Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria, and Dr. Shabbir A Shahid, Senior Salinity Management Expert, Freelancer based in United Arab Emirates.The objective of this book is to develop protocols for salinity and sodicity assessment and develop mitigation and adaptation measures to use saline and sodic soils sustainably. The focus is on important issues related to salinity and sodicity and to describe these in an easy and user friendly way. The information has been compiled from the latest published literature and from the authors’ publications specific to the subject matter. The book consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the terms salinity and sodicity and describes various salinity classification systems commonly used around the world. Chapter 2 reviews global distribution of salinization and socioeconomic aspects related to salinity and crop production. Chapters 3 covers comprehensively salinity and sodicity adaptation and mitigation options including physical, chemical, hydrological and biological methods. Chapter 4 discusses the efforts that have been made to demonstrate the development of soil salinity zones under different irrigation systems. Chapter 5 discusses the quality of irrigation water, boron toxicity and relative tolerance to boron, the effects of chlorides on crops. Chapter 6 introduces the role of nuclear techniques in saline agriculture.

The Soil Doctors programme is developed under the umbrella of the Global Soil Partnership and promotes the establishment of a farmer-to-farmer training system. The Soil Doctors Global Programme aims to build the capacity of smallholder farmers on the practice of sustainable soil management and, by doing so, support governmental agencies and organizations working on agricultural extension at the field level (promoting broader impact and a reduction of costs). Trainings will also rely on the establishment of demonstration farms and experimental fields by the Soil Doctors, which might attract the interest of research institutes and universities involved in the programme. The programme also aims to educate farmers on soil science principles for practices of sustainable soil management and aims to achieve this by providing them with a set of tools composed of some educational materials and a soil testing methods (STM) manual for preliminary soil analysis. The STM is a collection of locally relevant, and easy to use, soil analyses procedures that would be selected by each area where the program is implemented.

With the growing popularity and availability of precision equipment, farmers and producers have access to more data than ever before. With proper implementation, precision agriculture management can improve profitability and sustainability of production. Precision Agriculture Basics is geared at students, crop consultants, farmers, extension workers, and practitioners that are interested in practical applications of site-specific agricultural management. Using a multidisciplinary approach, readers are taught to make data-driven on-farm decisions using the most current knowledge and tools in crop science, agricultural engineering, and geostatistics. Precision Agriculture Basics also features a stunning video glossary including interviews with agronomists on the job and in the field.

Soil physical measurements are essential for solving many natural resource management problems. This operational laboratory and field handbook provides, for the first time, a standard set of methods that are cost-effective and well suited to land resource survey. It provides: *practical guidelines on the soil physical measurements across a range of soils, climates and land uses; *straightforward descriptions for each method (including common pitfalls) that can be applied by people with a rudimentary knowledge of soil physics, and *guidelines on the interpretation of results and integration with land resource assessment. Soil Physical Measurement And Interpretation for Land Evaluation begins with an introduction to land evaluation and then outlines procedures for field sampling. Twenty detailed chapters cover pore space relations, water retention, hydraulic conductivity, water table depth, dispersion, aggregation, particle size, shrinkage, Atterburg limits and strength. The book includes procedures for estimating soil physical properties from more readily available data and shows how soil physical data can be integrated into land planning and management decisions.