Participatory Soil Quality Assessment Using Low-Cost Tools under Contrasting Management Practices in a Vertisol

A study was conducted to assess soil health in a participatory mode whereby farmers were sensitized, involved, trained, and provided with low-cost tools for assessing the soil health of their fields. The study was carried out in two selected villages in the districts of Bhopal and Sehore. Management practices consisted of different nutrient management practices, namely organic manure-based farming, integrated (organic + inorganic) nutrient-based farming, and inorganic fertilizer-based farming. In this approach, both qualitative and quantitative assessments of soil parameters were done to characterize soil quality and enhance soil health and productivity. It helped farmers to assess their soil health periodically and prepare a Soil Health Card for their farm. About 12 soil parameters comprising of physical, chemical, and biological health indicators were selected for the study. Results revealed that different nutrient management-based farming systems significantly affected soil pH, electrical conductivity, soil organic carbon, aggregate stability, mean weight diameter, soil moisture retention, soil penetration resistance, and crop yield. In addition, results indicated that organic-based farming recorded ‘good’ Soil Health Card values compared to integrated and inorganic fertilizer-based farming, regardless of location. In Parwalia village, results indicated that high soil quality index (SQI) was observed under organic nutrient management (0.61), followed by integrated (0.52) and inorganic nutrient (0.34) management. In Vaidakhedi village, the corresponding values were 0.63, 0.50, and 0.33, respectively. The improvement in soil quality also influenced the crop yield significantly. Moreover, a significant relationship was observed between field assessed values to the laboratory values in this study. Thus, adopting either organic or integrated nutrient-based farming helps sustain soil health and improve crop yield compared to the application of inorganic fertilizers. Results also highlight the importance of low-cost tools for assessing soil health in a participatory mode, which helps in the efficient allocation of manures and fertilizer nutrients as per requirement. This study reinforces the importance of soil physical (i.e. MWD, aggregate stability and penetration resistance) and biological (macro-life diversity and earthworm counts) indicators for inclusions in Soil Health Card for making it a comprehensive assessment of soil health.