Healthy soils mean healthy plants. Therefore, it’s one of the most precious resources on earth. Soil protects ecosystems, maintains water quality, mitigates climate change, and produces crops.
Soil health depends on many factors. Moreover, there’re numerous indicators to identify soil health. However, these indicators don’t always deliver reliable outcomes.
In recent research, researchers evaluated a cost-effective indicator of soil health. Their main focus was dryland farming. The researchers published this study in the Soil Science Society of America Journal.
The researchers first rewet the dried soil samples. Remitted soil samples release carbon dioxide gas. Researchers measured this emitted carbon dioxide gas. These bursts of carbon dioxide are called carbon dioxide flush. It clearly indicates the microbial activity in the soil.
Upendra, the lead researcher, states that it’s cost-effective and straightforward to measure the carbon dioxide flush. Moreover, their team found a connection between carbon dioxide flush and several soil properties.
At the same time, Sainju considers carbon dioxide flush closely related to soil health. Ultimately, he believes that it is the most reliable method to determine crop yields. Moreover, researchers are also using this method for estimating dryland crop yields in semiarid and arid regions.
Carbon dioxide is the best indicator of soil health because of the following reasons:
- It doesn’t require chemicals. Therefore, this process is cost-effective and quick.
- A simple device called an infrared analyzer can be used to measure the carbon dioxide flush from soil samples.
“Not needing chemicals means carbon dioxide flush can easily be used to measure soil health directly from the field. No chemicals being used also makes this process quick and economical,” says Sainju.
The Cost-effectiveness of this process is important because the traditional methods for measuring soil health were expensive and time-taking. Sainju also explained some other reasons behind the preference for this process over traditional methods. He mentions that traditional methods give mixed and unreliable results.
Therefore, there is a need for a single reliable method for measuring soil health. A single method will help policymakers, stakeholders, ecologists, and farmers evaluate the sustainability of crop production.
Besides measuring soil health, the measurement of carbon dioxide flush is also helpful for reducing the use of nitrogen fertilizer.
Sainju says that the estimation of carbon dioxide flush is important in estimating the available nitrogen from the soil to crops. It indicates that farmers need to use the fertilizers strategically. It will help farmers do cost-effective farming with maximum environmental benefits.
Research Methodology
In the first step of the research, researchers took soil from northeastern Montana as a sample. Saniju and his team use different methods to detect the carbon dioxide flush in different soil samples.
- One way is the traditional method. In this method, they wet the dried soil samples and let them stay for four days. After that, they use a specific chemical to measure the Carbon dioxide flush.
- The other method they use was faster. In that method, they wet the soil for just one day. After that, they use an infrared gas analyzer for the detection and measurement of carbon dioxide flush.
The results obtained from these two methods were slightly different. The research team also compared the biological, chemical, and physical properties of soil with the results obtained.
Sainju stated that the faster one-day analysis method gives better results. It means that an easier and faster method of measuring carbon oxide flush is also a cost-effective and reliable indicator of soil health.
After choosing the method, the research team use this method to analyze the lands under irrigated and dryland cropping systems. Besides, they also expanded their research to diverse soils under different climatic conditions.
Importance of measuring carbon dioxide flush
It is important to measure the carbon dioxide flush because it helps in determining the long-term means yield of crops. It’s because crop production is also affected by non-soil factors, such as pests, floods, and droughts.
Sainju says that it is important to determine the carbon dioxide flush because it is the most accurate and reliable method for measuring soil health.