ABSTRACT
The goal of managing soil health is to promote the long-term fertility and ecological integrity of agricultural lands. Several primary indicators of biological soil health are measurements of the quantity and quality of soil organic matter (SOM). SOM influences almost all important soil processes, including water and nutrient retention and the abundance and activity of the soil biota. A leading indicator for carbon is the permanganate-oxidizable carbon (POXC) test. POXC is highly sensitive to changes in management and in cropping systems. Soil protein content is an indicator of the pool of the organically bound N in the soil that is most likely to contribute to N mineralization and to subsequent plant uptake. Certain ratios of soil parameters are calculated to produce metrics of the quality of the organic matter in the soil. Improved sampling, sample handling, and downstream analyses have been developed in recent years that allow for greater in situ and ex situ resolution of soil biological variables.
