Proceedings of the National Conference on Next-Generation Sustainable Technologies for Small-Scale Producers (NGST 2022)

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Strategies for Improving Soil Health in the Southeastern United States’ Coastal Plain

Authors
Thomas F. Ducey1, *, Ariel A. Szogi1
1Coastal Plain Soil, Water, and Plant Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Florence, SC, USA
*Corresponding author. Email: thomas.ducey@usda.gov
Corresponding Author
Thomas F. Ducey
Available Online 22 November 2023.
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-282-8_18How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Soil Health; Southern Coastal Plain; Soil Organic Carbon; Caron Mineralization; Aggregate Stability
Abstract

Rather than being viewed as an inert matrix to hold nutrients and water that promotes plant growth, the soil should be understood as a living and life-giving natural resource. Soil health, a term often used interchangeably with soil quality or soil fertility, is defined as the soil’s capacity to sustain plant growth and fitness, ecological biodiversity, and environmental quality. A series of biological, chemical, and physical characteristics are measured to establish baseline levels, with subsequent measurements allowing land managers to monitor short- and long-term changes in soils health. These changes can be used to assess the ability of select soil management to positively impact soil health, whether it be for restoring lands damaged by industry, improving weathered soils impacted by over-use, erosion, and time, or enhancing a soil’s ability to withstand extreme climatic events such as excessive heat and/or drought. This review will explain the factors commonly measured to determine a soil health, and present ongoing research examples of how conventional management practices are being used to positively impact soil health and improve soils in the Southeastern Coastal Plain of the United States.

Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the National Conference on Next-Generation Sustainable Technologies for Small-Scale Producers (NGST 2022)
Series
Advances in Biological Sciences Research
Publication Date
22 November 2023
ISBN
10.2991/978-94-6463-282-8_18
ISSN
2468-5747
DOI
10.2991/978-94-6463-282-8_18How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Thomas F. Ducey
AU  - Ariel A. Szogi
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/11/22
TI  - Strategies for Improving Soil Health in the Southeastern United States’ Coastal Plain
BT  - Proceedings of the National Conference on Next-Generation Sustainable Technologies for Small-Scale Producers (NGST 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 157
EP  - 165
SN  - 2468-5747
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-282-8_18
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-282-8_18
ID  - Ducey2023
ER  -