Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils

There’s a lack of research in grasslands and how to identify degraded soils, or to protect them. Biological differences between ‘good’ and “poor” soils are also hard to see. ‘Research on soil health indicators such as penetration rate have been conducted in other places, but there have been very few...

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Autor principal: Tam, Kristen
Formato: Blog Post
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Livestock Research Institute 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159742
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author Tam, Kristen
author_browse Tam, Kristen
author_facet Tam, Kristen
author_sort Tam, Kristen
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description There’s a lack of research in grasslands and how to identify degraded soils, or to protect them. Biological differences between ‘good’ and “poor” soils are also hard to see. ‘Research on soil health indicators such as penetration rate have been conducted in other places, but there have been very few experiments in tropical soils. The soils in western Kenya are millions of years old while soils in Europe are 10-20 thousand, how they become degraded will differ greatly!’ said Leitner. Lab-based chemical and biological analysis methods are inaccessible, time consuming and expensive for communities to use. Methods must also be specifically tailored to the very old and clay filled soils in western Kenya. Soil matters for the people, plants and animals who depend on it. For instance, if water doesn’t infiltrate well, it results in limited water availability for plants and runoff can also lead to erosion and loss of soil nutrients.
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spelling CGSpace1597422024-11-14T12:16:29Z Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils Tam, Kristen soil biology agrobiodiversity biodiversity conservation There’s a lack of research in grasslands and how to identify degraded soils, or to protect them. Biological differences between ‘good’ and “poor” soils are also hard to see. ‘Research on soil health indicators such as penetration rate have been conducted in other places, but there have been very few experiments in tropical soils. The soils in western Kenya are millions of years old while soils in Europe are 10-20 thousand, how they become degraded will differ greatly!’ said Leitner. Lab-based chemical and biological analysis methods are inaccessible, time consuming and expensive for communities to use. Methods must also be specifically tailored to the very old and clay filled soils in western Kenya. Soil matters for the people, plants and animals who depend on it. For instance, if water doesn’t infiltrate well, it results in limited water availability for plants and runoff can also lead to erosion and loss of soil nutrients. 2024-06-27 2024-11-14T12:16:28Z 2024-11-14T12:16:28Z Blog Post https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159742 en Open Access International Livestock Research Institute Tam, Kristen. 2024. Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils. Blog Post. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI
spellingShingle soil biology
agrobiodiversity
biodiversity conservation
Tam, Kristen
Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils
title Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils
title_full Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils
title_fullStr Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils
title_full_unstemmed Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils
title_short Searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils
title_sort searching for easy indicators for degraded tropical pastureland soils
topic soil biology
agrobiodiversity
biodiversity conservation
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/159742
work_keys_str_mv AT tamkristen searchingforeasyindicatorsfordegradedtropicalpasturelandsoils