Soil Health and Sustainable Agriculture

Monther M. Tahat, Kholoud M. Alananbeh, Yahia A. Othman and Daniel I. Leskovar
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Monther M. Tahat: Department of Plant Protection, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
Kholoud M. Alananbeh: Department of Plant Protection, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
Yahia A. Othman: Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
Daniel I. Leskovar: Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Texas A&M University, Uvalde, TX 78801, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 12, 1-26

Abstract: A healthy soil acts as a dynamic living system that delivers multiple ecosystem services, such as sustaining water quality and plant productivity, controlling soil nutrient recycling decomposition, and removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Soil health is closely associated with sustainable agriculture, because soil microorganism diversity and activity are the main components of soil health. Agricultural sustainability is defined as the ability of a crop production system to continuously produce food without environmental degradation. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), cyanobacteria, and beneficial nematodes enhance water use efficiency and nutrient availability to plants, phytohormones production, soil nutrient cycling, and plant resistance to environmental stresses. Farming practices have shown that organic farming and tillage improve soil health by increasing the abundance, diversity, and activity of microorganisms. Conservation tillage can potentially increase grower’s profitability by reducing inputs and labor costs as compared to conventional tillage while organic farming might add extra management costs due to high labor demands for weeding and pest control, and for fertilizer inputs (particularly N-based), which typically have less consistent uniformity and stability than synthetic fertilizers. This review will discuss the external factors controlling the abundance of rhizosphere microbiota and the impact of crop management practices on soil health and their role in sustainable crop production.

Keywords: mycorrhizal fungi; cyanobacteria; soil tillage; organic farming; microbes; nematodes; biodiversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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