What is a good level of soil organic matter? An index based on organic carbon to clay ratio

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dc.contributor.authorProut, Jonah M.
dc.contributor.authorShepherd, Keith D.
dc.contributor.authorMcGrath, Steve P.
dc.contributor.authorKirk, Guy J. D.
dc.contributor.authorHaefele, Stephan M.
dc.date.accessioned2020-07-16T12:19:10Z
dc.date.available2020-07-16T12:19:10Z
dc.date.issued2020-06-12
dc.description.abstractSimple measures of appropriate levels of soil organic matter are needed for soil evaluation, management and monitoring, based on readily‐measurable soil properties. We test an index of soil organic matter based on the soil organic carbon (SOC) to clay ratio, defined by thresholds of SOC/clay ratio for specified levels of soil structural quality. The thresholds were originally delineated for a small number of Swiss soils. We assess the index using data from the initial sampling (1978–83) of the National Soil Inventory of England and Wales, covering 3809 sites under arable land, grassland and woodland. Land use, soil type, annual precipitation and soil pH together explained 21% of the variance in SOC/clay ratio in the dataset, with land use the most important variable. Thresholds of SOC/clay ratio of 1/8, 1/10 and 1/13 indicated the boundaries between ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘moderate’ and ‘degraded’ levels of structural condition. On this scale, 38.2, 6.6, and 5.6% of arable, grassland and woodland sites, respectively, were degraded. The index gives a method to assess and monitor soil organic matter at national, regional or sub‐regional scales based on two routinely measured soil properties. Given the wide range of soils and land uses across England and Wales in the dataset used to test the index, we suggest it should apply to other European soils in similar climate zones.en_UK
dc.identifier.citationProut JM, Shepherd KD, McGrath SP. (2021) What is a good level of soil organic matter? An index based on organic carbon to clay ratio. European Journal of Soil Science, Volume 72, Issue 6, November 2021 pp. 2493-2503en_UK
dc.identifier.issn1351-0754
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13012
dc.identifier.urihttp://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/15554
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherWileyen_UK
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subjectsoil structureen_UK
dc.subjectsoil organic carbonen_UK
dc.subjectsoil clay contenten_UK
dc.subjectland useen_UK
dc.titleWhat is a good level of soil organic matter? An index based on organic carbon to clay ratioen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK

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