More Soil Quality
Charles Benbrook (benbrook@hillnet.com)
Tue, 14 Feb 1995 00:07:57 -0800 (PST)
In response to Rex Dufour's suggestion re customizing definition of soil
quality to encompass the tropics, I agree on one level, but not another.
I think the three basic attributes of a high quality soil are universal:
capacity to take in, hold water; hold and cycle nutrients; suppress
pathogens and other pests. The attributes or soil physical and
biological parameters which will give rise to these atrtributes will
differ between temperate and humid regions, as will a soil's ability to
withstand things like tillage, Furadan, and excessive irrigation. One
might add that another dimension of a quality soil is robustness -- takes
a lickin' and keeps on tickin' -- and on this dimension tropical soils
might be judged as limiting. But the underlying attributes do not change.