ARS | Publication request: MICROBIAL BIOMASS AND SOIL QUALITY: HOW ARE THEY RELATED?

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Meetings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: July 1, 1998
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The interest in soil quality assessment has centered around detecting the direction of change in quality and more specifically the rate of change. To accomplish this type of assessment we need to identify a soil indicator(s) that 1) represents the soil as a whole and 2) would rapidly change do to changes in soil conditions. A good deal of interest has been given to the soil microbial biomass as a potential indicator of changes in soil quality, mainly due to the numerous studies of the effects of chemicals, amendments and management practices on the soil microbial biomass. However, the interaction of other soil parameters with microbial biomass and their spatial relationship across the landscape will affect how microbial biomass is related to soil quality. I will discuss these relationships and interactions in the context of an agroecosystem.