Comparison of methodolgies of soil quality indices (SQI) for sodic soil

Abstract

Soil degradation and the use of urban biosolid wastes to soil restoration have an economic, social-environmental and health impact. Therefore, there is interest worldwide in the use and comparison of methodologies to establish soil quality indexes (SQIs) based on physical, chemical, and biological indicators of soils. Considering that more than 60% of the territory in the Bajío region of Mexico in the State of Guanajuato is affected by some type of soil degradation, three methodologies for the establishment of SQIs—additive, weighted and unified weighted indexes—were compared in this study to evaluate the short-term effects—30 days—of the addition of biosolids as soil improvers. The methodologies were applied in experiments on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) mineralization dynamics in a sodic agricultural soil. The ammonium indicator (N-NH4+) was established as the one that is most related to the quality of the soil. The additive and unified weighted indexes differentiated the level of soil quality with respect to time and treatment. The developed SQIs can be used for short-term assessment of the quality of agricultural soils under amendment addition treatments with biosolids or similar organic products.