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Indicators for the Evaluation of Soil Organic Matter and their Application in Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

Hoyer, Uta; Reents, Hans-Jürgen and Hülsbergen, Kurt-Jürgen (2008) Indicators for the Evaluation of Soil Organic Matter and their Application in Organic and Conventional Farming Systems. Poster at: Cultivating the Future Based on Science: 2nd Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research ISOFAR, Modena, Italy, June 18-20, 2008.

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Summary

In view of the problems caused by soil degradation, it becomes ever more important to estimate the influence of different management systems on soil organic matter (SOM). In the past, a number of indicators characterizing SOM have been elaborated, which, however, do not allow to draw conclusions on separate management measures or even future development tendencies. A promising approach might be humus balancing, which quantifies and evaluates the humus supply of soils on the basis of crop rotation and fertilization. Comparative studies on adjacent arable sites under both organic and conventional management in different climatic regions of Germany have revealed that the indicator soil organic carbon (SOC) depends mainly on the site conditions, whereas indicators characterizing active SOM like hot water soluble C (Chws), C in microbial biomass (Cmic) and the enzyme activities of β-glucosidase and catalase are stronger related to management methods. It became evident that humus balancing is a good indicator of the active SOM pool and thus also a qualified tool for demonstrating management effects.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Poster
Keywords:soil organic matter, indicator, farming system, humus balancing
Subjects: Soil > Soil quality
Research affiliation: International Conferences > 2008: IFOAM OWC: Research Track / ISOFAR > 2.7 Comparison of cropping systems
Deposited By: Hoyer, Dipl. Ing. agr. Uta
ID Code:12506
Deposited On:02 Oct 2008
Last Modified:12 Apr 2010 07:36
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted
Additional Publishing Information:This paper is published in the conference proceedings:
Neuhoff, Daniel; Halberg, Niels; Alfldi, Thomas; Lockeretz, William; Thommen, Andreas; Rasmussen, Ilse A.; Hermansen, John; Vaarst, Mette; Lck, Lorna; Carporali, Fabio; Jensen, Henning Hgh; Migliorini, Paola and Willer, Helga, Eds. (2008) .Cultivating the Future Based on Science. Proceedings of the Second Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), held at the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress in Cooperation with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Consorzio ModenaBio, 18 . 20 June 2008 in Modena, Italy.. International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), c/o IOL, DE-Bonn, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick. http://orgprints.org/13672 and http://orgprints.org/13674

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