Assessment of SOIL quality using a BIOindicator (SoilBio)

鉴于资源有限，提供足够的粮食来养活不断增加的全球人口是一项挑战。土壤是粮食生产的关键组成部分，提供营养和有机物质。然而，现代作物生产方法导致土壤退化，导致产量下降。这导致了所谓的产量差距，即最佳条件下的产量与实际产量之间的差异。该项目的重点是开发一种使用土壤生物学，化学和物理学措施的土壤质量测试。我们分析土壤线虫群落DNA，类似于遗传指纹，告知土壤质量的状态。土壤化学和物理测量是时间上的快照测量，例如小时，而线虫数据是周/月的反映。该联盟的合作伙伴将为农民开发一种工具，用于精准农业框架，以确定需要改善土壤质量的田地。

Providing sufficient food to feed an increasing global population is challenging given limited resources. Soil is a key component of food production providing nutrition and organic matter. However, modern methods of crop production have resulted in degraded soil leading to reduced yields. This contributes to the so-called yield gap, the difference between yield in optimal conditions to that actually achieved. This project focusses on developing a test for soil quality that uses measures of soil biology, chemistry and physics. We profile soil nematode community DNA, similar to genetic fingerprinting, to inform the status of soil quality. Whereas soil chemical and physical measures are snapshot measures in time e.g. hours, nematode data is a reflection of weeks/months. The consortium partners will develop a tool for farmers to be used in a precision agriculture framework to identify fields in need of soil quality improvement.