Assessment of SOIL quality using a BIOindicator (SoilBio)

在资源有限的情况下，为不断增长的全球人口提供足够的食物是一项挑战。土壤是粮食生产的关键组成部分，提供营养和有机物。然而，现代作物生产方法导致土壤退化，导致产量下降。这就造成了所谓的收益缺口，即最佳条件下的收益与实际达到的收益之间的差额。这个项目的重点是开发一种利用土壤生物学、化学和物理学测量的土壤质量测试方法。我们分析土壤线虫群落DNA，类似于遗传指纹，以了解土壤质量状况。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.