Visual Soil Evaluation: Realising Potential Crop Production with Minimum Environmental Impact

by Bruce C. Ball (Editor), Lars J. Munkholm (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780647456
Publisher:	CABI
Publication date:	12/03/2015
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.75(w) x 9.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Bruce C. Ball is at SRUC, UK.

Lars J. Munkholm is at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Table of Contents

1. 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 and crop performance 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