Soil Health : Its Meaning

The continued capacity of soil to be able to function as a vital ecosystem that is able to sustain life of plants, animals and humans. To be capable for years for the use of the future generations in a sustainable manner is what is known as soil health.

Importance Of Soil Health

1. It is fundamental for a healthy production of crops.
2. It provides the necessary elements- nutrients, water, oxygen and necessary support to the roots and stem which ultimately results in the favourable production of good quality crops.
3. Maintaining the soil health helps in absorbing and storing water which helps in and is used during periods of drought.
4. A healthy soil helps in balancing and ensuring proper health of all elements around us as well as those present in the soil itself.

Benefits Of Healthy Soil

There are many benefits of healthy soil. Some of them are as follows:
1. As soil is the source of all the essential things on the planet and it sustains all life form ; accurate soil health ensures and promotes healthy life in all the organisms.
2. Healthier soils will have more nutrients ; therefore the plants that absorb nutrition from the soil in result will be healthier than other plants.
3. Healthy soils aid and help in the maintaineance of cleanliness of the environment and the surroundings.
4. They help in reducing erosion and other such natural calamities which are mostly unavoidable nowadays.
5. Healthy soils stabilize the plants and provide support for the efficient and timely growth.

How To Maintain Soil Health?

Some of the major management practices to improve and maintain soil health are as described below:
1. Excessive tillage over a certain time period is absolutely harmful for the soil. Moreover tillage hamper the soil aggregates. Therefore; these practices should be avoided.
2. Chemical Pesticide and Insecticide use should be discouraged as it is absolutely inappropriate for the soil ph and its overall health. They make the soil excessively unstable.
3. Monitoring soil organic matter content over time is another very important step in maintaining a healthy soil. From time to time organic matter in the soil has to be analyzed so as to make sure there is no depletion or excess of it in the soil.
Extra precautions should be taken in maintaining soil health because a little negligence can prove to be harmful for the entire food chain and the environment as a result.

Challenges To Soil Health

Soil Degradation, pollution ; loss of flora and fauna ; the entire biodiversity; unnecessary and excessive usage of chemical pesticides and insecticides over the years have created it almost impossible to maintain healthy soil. Furthermore continuous negligence by us has further contributed in aggravating the issue.

Conclusion

We should create and spread awareness among one another so as to have a sustainable environment in future as well as at present. It is only our contribution that can help stop the aggravation and mismanagement to soil health practices.

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