Soil Biodiversity as a Key Sponsor of Regenerative Agriculture

Increasing knowledge and literacy around soil biodiversity is essential to discover and implement biological solutions for the discouraging challenges people face in agriculture and human wellbeing. Therefore, this review was done to get an insight into the awareness and understanding of the contribution of soil biodiversity to regenerative agriculture. The review was done by referring to the latest different research findings; reports, working guidelines, as well as knowledge shared from different soil biodiversity conferences and webinar discussion points. The review disclosed that to meet the increasing demand for food for the ever-increasing global population and the 2030 sustainable development goals, regenerating the already degraded lands through regenerative agriculture principles and practices is vitally important. The findings and report documents showed that soil biodiversity facilitates the regenerative agriculture system as soil organisms are using as soil health improvement machines, a remediates for soil and water pollution, a fertilizer, pesticide, as a means of carbon sink, and used in the pharmaceutical industry to discover new drugs and vaccines for animal and human health. Moreover, the meta-analysis publicized that the consideration and use of soil biodiversity in the regenerative agriculture system have promising results although little is known about the role of those soil organisms in the ecosystem due to the presence of knowledge gap and complexity of relationships in the soil system. Therefore, furthermore, attention should be given to the discoveries of soil biodiversity to use them as a natured based solution for regenerative agriculture in the 21st century and to meet the 2030 sustainable development goals

Assessment of Soil Fertility Status at Dawja Watershed in Enebse Sar Midir District, Northwestern Ethiopia

Information on soil fertility status is key in predicting the relative response of soils to fertilizer application and adopting appropriate management practices. The present study was conducted to assess the fertility status of the soils of the Dawja Watershed in Enebse Sar Midir District. 21 composite soil samples were collected from the 0-20 cm soil depth of 7 land units, identified based on their slope and management practices. Except available phosphorus, all the soil parameters were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by differences in land units. The textural class of the soils varied between sandy clay loam and sandy clay. The bulk density of the soils under the different land units ranged between 1.32 and 1.41 g cm-3 and the total porosity varied from 46.66 to 50.10%. The pH of the soils ranged from 5.7 to 6.8. The organic matter content of the soils was generally low and ranged between 1.17% in cultivated land unit to 2.46% in grazing land unit soils. The total nitrogen content of the soils ranged from 0.13 to 0.19%. Available P (Olsen) was generally high in all the land units and ranged between 17.92 to 23.02 mg kg-1. The results further showed that the soils were generally rich in exchangeable basic cations with CEC ranged between 18.13 cmol(+) kg-1in soils of strongly sloping cultivated land unit to 41.87 cmol(+) kg-1 in soils of gently sloping land unit. The percent base saturation of the soils varied between 62.30 and 92.20%. The extractable micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu) of the soils were above their respective critical levels, which indicate that they are not limiting crop production at the moment. In general, soils of the study area are good in their selected physical and chemical properties for plant growth except organic matter and total nitrogen. Therefore, the soil fertility management should focus on scenarios that could improve the organic matter and nitrogen levels for improving crop production on a sustainable basis. &nbsp