ABSTRACT
Managing soil health in organic cultivation A. Fortuna, Washington State University, USA; A. Bhowmik, Pennsylvania State University, USA; and A. Bary and C. Cogger, Washington State University, USA
1 Introduction
2 Measuring long-term soil health in organic cultivation
3 The use of animal amendments in soil nutrition
4 The use of cover crops in soil nutrition
5 The effect of rotations, cover crops and animal amendments on carbon and nitrogen levels in soil
6 The effect of cover crops on nitrogen levels in soil
7 The effect of animal amendments on nitrogen levels in soil
8 Managing nutrient loss and retention: greenhouse gas emissions
9 Conclusions and future trends
10 Acknowledgements
11 Where to look for further information
12 References
Soil health is a function of various soil attributes (physical, chemical and biological) which respond to land management and vary in space and time (Soil Quality Institute, 1999). One of the first persons to link the principles of soil health and organic agriculture was Sir Albert Howard, a founder of organic agriculture and author of Soil and Health: A Study of Organic Agriculture (Howard, 1947). Soil quality is comparable to soil health in the context of our discussion. Soil quality is defined as ‘the capacity of a soil to function within ecosystems and land-use boundaries to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant, animal, and human health’ (Doran and Parkin, 1994).
