IMPROVING SOIL HEALTH MEASUREMENT USING SIMPLE, ALTERNATIVE INDICATORS AND OPTIMIZING SAMPLING

• Grant number: 24/17805-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 30, 2024
• End date: February 27, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Principal Investigator: José Marques Júnior
• Grantee: Lucas Sonoda Ninomiya
• Supervisor: Tom Vanwalleghem
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad de Córdoba (UCO), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/01196-0 - POTENTIAL FOR CARBON SEQUESTION IN SOIL MINERALS WITH THE USE NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC IRON-RICH NANOPARTICLE, BP.IC

Abstract

Soil health is an important component of regenerative agriculture. Monitoring the benefits of regenerative soil healthsystems requires interdisciplinary actions to support adopting soil health practices on a global scale. In this sense, this study aims to evaluate the spatial variability of soil carbon and soil health indicators in different agroecosystems and the potential of simple indicators, using the SLAKES app to optimize sampling schemes and spatial prediction methods for erosion, soil carbon, and soil health. The research activity will be carried out at the Rabanales Campus of the University of Córdoba in Spain. The study site will consist of three distinct areas: (i) cattle presence (high intensity), (ii) exclusion plot (low intensity), and (iii) irrigated plot (moderate intensity). Standard soil indicators such as bulk density, soil pH, water infiltration, and carbon content will be analyzed, as well as alternative indicators such as soil color associated with organic carbon and soil aggregate stability, using the SLAKES app. Regarding vegetation indicators, vegetation spectrum studies will be carried out using an in-situ field spectrometer, to relate pasture quality to soil quality. SLAKES is a smartphone app created by the University of Sydney that allowsyou to measure the stability of soil aggregates through a simple experiment that requires little training and minimal laboratory equipment. The app records images of soil clods as they disintegrate in water and calculates the stability of these aggregates using coefficients that model a Gompertz function, adjusted to images of clod dispersion over time. This method provides quantitative results in just 10 minutes and runs on a free app, which only requires a smartphone, a Petri dish, a phone holder, and water. This approach to measuring soil aggregate stability fills an existing gap, providing land managerswith a practical way to assess soil conditions and expanding the availability of quantitative measurements in the scientific community. The results are expected to include the optimization of sampling schemes, as well as the determination of the best environmental indicators for prediction models. In addition, in contact with the Spanish research group, the results obtained in the evaluations of the FAPESP research project 2024/01196-0, entitled "Carbon sequestration potential in soil minerals with the use of nanoparticles enriched with natural and synthetic iron" will be discussed, as well as the optimization of the SLAKES app for use in future evaluations of the project for the quantification of soil aggregate stability.