I think we've typed to each other before about this. I work with different
organic soil amendments, and their effect on soil quality, sustainable
agriculture, and soil biological communities. J. of Alternative Agriculture
Volume 7 (1992) Issue #1 was devoted to soil quality, a little out of date,
but includes important concepts. I have quite a few other references. Let
me know what you need!
Short answers are organic aggregates are increased in size and number with
increasing organic amendments, microbial biomass is normally increased
(tillage also has a major effect). Addition of organic amendments normally
increases soil organic matter (soil type is important. In our sandy coastal
plain mineral soils, very little OM is present in the first place: <1%).
Russ
-- Russ Bulluck Ph.D. Student Department of Plant Pathology North Carolina State University PO Box 7616 Raleigh, NC 27695-7616~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The soil population is so complex that it manifestly cannot be dealt with as a whole with any detail by any one person, and at the same time it plays so important a part in the soil economy that it must be studied. --Sir E. John Russell The Micro-organisms of the Soil, 1923 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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