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Vol. 11 No. 2 (2017)

Review articles

Potential for the use of chemical properties as indicators of soil quality. A review

https://doi.org/10.17584/rcch.2017v11i2.5719

Published 2018-01-06

  • Joan Sebastián Gutiérrez D.
    • ,
  • William Andrés Cardona
    • ,
  • Oscar Iván Monsalve C.

Joan Sebastián Gutiérrez D.
Programa de Maestría en Ciencias Agrarias, Línea Suelos y Aguas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá

William Andrés Cardona
Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (Corpoica), Mosquera

Oscar Iván Monsalve C.
Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Agrarias, Línea Suelos y Aguas, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá

Determinación de la calidad del suelo mediante indicadores químicos en naranja Valencia. Foto: H. Velásquez

Abstract

The need to understand and evaluate the quality of soils in agricultural production systems is an issue of increasing importance today because of the determination of impacts from management practices on the sustainability of this resource. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the concept of soil quality and indicators for its evaluation and to present some research on the potential of chemical properties for use as indicators of soil quality. Among the chemical properties that can be considered as indicators are nutrient availability, organic carbon content and labile organic carbon, pH, phosphate binding capacity, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, total nitrogen and mineralizable and organic matter. The importance of multivariate techniques to define chemical properties with a potential as soil quality indicators is highlighted. The greatest concern for the sustainable use of soil resources includes the need to develop approaches and tools that generate diagnoses for the effects of management practices implemented in the systems of agricultural production, that is, to provide information about soil quality in a given context.

Keywords

Soil quality assessment, interrelation of soil properties, agricultural systems.

PDF (Español)

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