Soil Aggregation: An Index of Soil Health

Shreyasi Gupta Choudhurya*, K. Dasa, A. K. Sahoo, D. C. Nayaka and S. K. Singhb

a
ICAR- National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Regional Centre, Kolkata-700091, bICAR- National
Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, Nagpur-440033. * Corresponding authors email: shreyasi.acss@gmail.com

As a finite and non-renewable resource of the planet earth, soils must be conserved and nurtured with care for
ensuring sustainable production, environmental preservation and ecosystem balance for future posterity. Under
the huge demand of food production for 1.34 billion population of India, agricultural lands are facing severe
degradation with respect to poor soil health management, nutrient mining, more crop per unit of soil area, less
time for fallowing, excessive input use for crop production, soil erosion etc. As a result, the structural stability of
the soil system is deteriorating day by day. Soil aggregation is an indispensable mechanism of association of
different soil particles with different organic and inorganic constituents. The complex dynamics of soil
aggregation are the result of the interaction of many factors including the environment, soil management, plant
influences and soil properties (mineral composition, texture, soil organic carbon concentration, pedogenic
processes, microbial activities, exchangeable ions, nutrient resources and moisture availability). Good soil
aggregation is the pillar of soil structural stability resulting sound soil health for crop production. Soil
aggregation could be recognized as an index of soil health, as it has several roles on soil health management. It
facilitates oxygen diffusion rate and water infiltration; affects hydraulic conductivity, water retention capacity
and movement, soil tilth, porosity; regulates organic matter decomposition; improves root growth in surface and
sub-surface soils; influences nutrient dynamics; affects run-off, surface and ground water pollution and carbon-
di-oxide emission; influences germination and emergence of seedlings etc. Based on the size, soil aggregates
have been primarily classified into macro aggregates (> 0.25 mm) and micro aggregates (<0.25 mm) (Bronick
and Lal, 2005) and further sub-classified into Coarse macro aggregates (>2.0 mm), mesoaggregates (2.0 to 0.25
mm), coarse micro aggregates (0.25 to 0.1 mm), fine micro aggregates (<0.1 mm) (Gupta Choudhury et al.,
2014).

Formation of stable soil aggregates:

Stable soil aggregates are formed as a result of a) flocculation or coagulation of the primary soil particles by
ions, b) cementation of the coagulated materials by organics (polysaccharides, humic substances, lipids, phenols
etc.). Soil aggregates retain soil organic carbon derived from biological processes. Several fresh plant and root
derived residues form the nucleation sites for microbial growth resulted the secretion of exudates, which acts as
cementing agents for stabilization of soil aggregates.

Methods of expression: There are several methods of expression of soil aggregation such as

Mean weight diameter (MWD): An estimation of weighted percentage of average sizes of all the
aggregates.
n

XiWi
MWD= i=1n where, n = the number of fractions, Xi = mean diameter of any particular size
Wi
i=1

of aggregates, Wi= weight of the aggregates in the same size range as a fraction of total dry weight of
the samples.
Geometric mean diameter (GMD): An expression of log-normal distribution of soil aggregates.
n

WilogXi
GMD=exp [ i=1 n
]
Wi
i=1

Degree of aggregation: The ratio of macro aggregates (>0.25 mm) to micro aggregates (< 0.25 mm).
Aggregate stability: An estimate of the possibility of retaining macro aggregates over micro aggregates.
of macroaggregates microaggregates
AS=
microaggregates

Factors influencing soil aggregation:

Different biotic and abiotic factors play role in formation, deterioration and regeneration of soil aggregates such
as: soil management, crop management, land use and ecology, soil moisture and mineralogy, erodibility.

Soil management: Soil management includes physical, chemical and biological manipulation of soil for
achieving good soil health and higher productivity. Tillage, puddling, residue management and manure
application are some of the soil management practices through which soil aggregation status can be maneuvered.
Conventional tillage practices results higher volume of microaggregates than macroaggregates, whereas,
reduced or minimum tillage facilitates soil macroaggregation. Puddling during rice cultivation cased severe
destruction of soil structure. Crop residues retained on the field or externally added will increase the volume of
macroaggregation and subsequently improves soil health by adding organic carbon into the soil system. Farm
yard manure or other organic manure application also accelerates soil aggregation by increasing microbial
growth and organic carbon into soil.

Crop management: Crop management including cropping sequence, crop rotation, rooting behavior has
significant effect on soil aggregation. Roots improve aggregation by enmeshing soil particles and by increasing
microbial biomass, which produce polymers acting as binding agents. Grass has immense potentiality of
improving soil aggregation through higher surface root proliferation and higher organic carbon sequestration in
soil. Introduction of leguminous crop is also effective in increasing soil macro aggregation. Cover crops restricts
the surface soil erosion and encourages soil aggregation.

Land use and ecology: different land uses such as forest, pastures/ grassland and different ecological regions
have also significant influence on soil aggregation. Forest ecosystem conserves soil structure as a result of less
disturbance of soil system by tillage with a higher accumulation of leaf litter, which releases higher organic
carbon on decomposition.

Soil moisture and clay mineralogy: It is evident that soil aggregation is dependent on clay mineralogy. Non-
expanding crystalline clays, such as Kaolinite (1:1) have low cation exchange capacity and low surface area,
which cause a decrease in aggregate stability. In comparison, aggregation is generally high in high activity clays
such as Smectites and other 2:1 type of clays, which are associated with high cation exchange capacity and large
surface area and high soil organic carbon (Bronick and lal, 2005). However, soil moisture and wet-dry cycles
have a variable effect on soil aggregation. Wet-dry cycles can disrupt aggregation in swelling clays. As clay
particles swell, they separate from other particles, decreasing aggregate stability.

Soil erodibility: The slope percentage of a land surface and its degree of erodibility determines the aggregation
status of the soil therein. Severely eroded soils and soils of a high slope landscape area have poor structure and
soil aggregation as compared to soils in plain lands with slight erosion.

References:

Bronick, C. J. and Lal, R. (2005). Soil structure and management: a review. Geoderma 124 (3-22).

Gupta Choudhury, S., Srivastava, S., Singh, R., Chaudhari, S. K., Sharma, D. K., Singh, S. K., Sarkar, D.,
2014. Tillage and residue management effects on soil aggregation, organic carbon dynamics and yield
attribute in ricewheat cropping system under reclaimed sodic soil. Soil and Tillage Research 136, 76
83.