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Managing to enhance soil biology

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>> Managing to enhance soil biology

Summary

Land managers have always aimed to support soil health. Emerging knowledge of fundamental links between soil organisms and the plants they support is providing new insights and impetus to consider management that optimises soil biological health.

This page will help you understand:

which soil attributes influence soil biological health
key management principles for enhancing soil biological diversity and activity
future management challenges

Soil management for improved soil biological health

Soil attributes which influence soil biological health include:

organic matter content and soil fertility – nutrient and energy sources for biological activity
structure and porosity – create environments for oxygen exchange and facilitate movement through the soil for invertebrates
pH – soil microbes and organisms do not tolerate pH extremes
moisture and temperature – water is required to facilitate movement and biological activity, while temperature is a key driver for biological processes (e.g. decomposition)

Therefore, management practices which address these soil attributes can help enhance soil biological health. This includes:

the careful use of fertilisers and pesticides
reducing compaction
stubble retention
minimising soil disturbance.

Management practices that increase plant diversity, such as intercropping (the growing of two or more crops together) or mixed species cover cropping, particularly including legumes, highlight new approaches to promoting soil biological health. Greater plant diversity will lead to increased diversity of root exudates and root-rhizosphere interactions which typically support greater biodiversity of soil organisms (i.e. higher diversity of microbial food sources support a broader diversity of microbes).

Future challenges

Evaluation and development of cover cropping and intercropping in southern Australia is limited to date, but there is increasing interest in their potential role in farming systems, with projects such as the Mixed Species Cover Crop Project and intercropping research in SA leading the way. More research is needed though to evaluate suitable (agronomically, economically and environmentally viable) cover cropping and intercropping options for SA farming systems as well as the study of soil biology in general.

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