Soil degradation is a worsening global phenomenon driven by socio-economic pressures, poor land management practices and climate change. A deterioration of soil structure at timescales ranging from seconds to centuries is implicated in most forms of soil degradation including the depletion of nutrients and organic matter, erosion and compaction. New soil-crop models that could account for soil structure dynamics at decadal to centennial timescales would provide insights into the relative importance of the various underlying physical (e.g. tillage, traffic compaction, swell/shrink and freeze/thaw) and biological (e.g. plant root growth, soil microbial and faunal activity) mechanisms, their impacts on soil hydrological processes and plant growth, as well as the relevant timescales of soil degradation and recovery. However, the development of such a model remains a challenge due to the enormous complexity of the interactions in the soil-plant system. In this paper, we focus on the impacts of biological processes on soil structure dynamics, especially the growth of plant roots and the activity of soil fauna and microorganisms. We first define what we mean by soil structure and then review current understanding of how these biological agents impact soil structure. We then develop a new framework for modelling soil structure dynamics, which is designed to be compatible with soil-crop models that operate at the soil profile scale and for long temporal scales (i.e. decades, centuries). We illustrate the modelling concept with a case study on the role of root growth and earthworm bioturbation in restoring the structure of a severely compacted soil.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.15289

A framework for modelling soil structure dynamics induced by biological activity

Soil organic carbon (SOC) in arable topsoil is known to have beneficial effects on soil physical properties that are important for soil fertility. The effects of SOC content on soil aggregate stability have been well documented; however, few studies have investigated its relationship with the soil pore structure, which has a strong influence on water dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. In the present study, we examined the relationships between SOC and clay contents and pore size distributions (PSDs) across an arable field with large spatial variations in topsoil SOC and clay contents by combining X‐ray tomography and measurements of soil water retention. Additionally, we investigated the relationships between fractionated SOC, reactive Fe and Al oxide contents and soil pore structure. We found that porosities in the 0.2–720 μm diameter class were positively correlated with SOC content. A unit increase of SOC content was associated with a relatively large increase in porosity in the 0.2–5 and 480–720 μm diameter classes, which indicates that enhanced SOC content would increase plant available water content and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. On the other hand, macroporosities (1200–3120 μm diameter classes) and bioporosity were positively correlated with clay content but not with SOC content. Due to strong correlations between soil texture, carbon‐to‐nitrogen ratios and reactive iron contents, we could not separate the relative importance of these soil properties for PSDs. Reactive aluminium and particulate organic carbon contents were poorer predictors for PSDs compared with clay and SOC contents. This study provides new insights on the relations between SOC and soil pore structure in an arable soil and may lead to improved estimations of the effects of enhanced SOC sequestration on soil water dynamics and soil water supply to crops.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/ejss.13212

Relations between soil organic carbon content and the pore size distribution for an arable topsoil with large variations in soil properties

https://hesso.tind.io/record/7565/files/published%20version.pdf

Changes in topsoil organic carbon content in the Swiss leman region cropland from 1993 to present. Insights from large scale on-farm study

Peach production is of great economic importance to Brazil. In 2020, over 201 ton of the fruit was harvested in the country, generating a production value of approximately R$456 million. In order to enhance peach productivity, it is necessary to improve soil physical quality in the orchards. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of compactness, water infiltration rate, as well as perform the visual evaluation of soil structure (VESS) in different sampling positions of three peach producing commercial orchards of different ages in southern Brazil. The results showed that the rows of the orchards had lower values of degree of compactness, soil structural quality score (Sq) and higher infiltration rate, and differed from the interrow and wheeled interrow sampling positions. Regarding orchard age, there was no difference between then. The use of cover crops, maintenance of spontaneous plants in the interrows and the branches from the yearly pruning placed on the interrows, harvesting manually, and opting for using a compact tractor, may be contributing to avoid soil compaction and probably soil erosion, and maintaining soil physical quality in the wheeled interrow and interrow, even in the older orchards. The degree of compactness, soil structural quality score and water infiltration are aligned with each other and with bulk density, macroporosity and total porosity, and were good indicators to identify differences in soil structure in the orchards. 

Degree of compactness and soil quality of peach orchards with different production ages

Visual assessment of soil structural quality across soil textures and compaction levels – Part I: Examination of intact soil cores

Degraded soil structure recovery is much less documented than structure degradation and in particular compaction. In this field experiment, the effects of rotary spade tillage followed by Sorghum cover crop (cover-crop treatment) on the degraded structure of the soil from an orchard were evaluated on undisturbed soil samples collected at 5-10 cm and 20-25 cm depth, respectively, using CoreVESS visual scoring of structure quality and shrinkage analysis. The cover-crop treatment took place from April to September and despite a particularly dry climate, the development of Sorghum was good. A large and significant improvement of the structure quality scores were obtained at both depths. Similar recovery trends in the physical properties were observed at the two depths, however the changes were significant at 5-10 cm depth only and went with a small increase of soil organic carbon (SOC) content. Analysis of covariance revealed a significant impact of the tillage and root development on the structure recovery, additional to and larger than the effect of SOC content. The structure recovery went with an enhancement of the positive role of SOC content on the physical properties. This structural change pattern was similar to reported in structure degradation or compaction studies. Therefore, the slope of the relationship between physical properties and SOC is an indicator of structure quality in general. Though the observed final structure quality of the top layer was good, we assume that its vulnerability remains large due to its small SOC to clay ratio. Our results are in close agreement with previous studies highlighting the relationships between SOC to clay ratio and structure quality.

/pdf/patterns-and-factors-of-soil-structure-recovery-as-revealed-3pk0rh8zs6.pdf

Patterns and factors of soil structure recovery as revealed from a tillage and cover-crop experiment in a compacted orchard

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Patterns and factors of soil structure recovery as revealed from a tillage and cover-crop experiment in a compacted orchard