Cover illustration
This illustration highlights the fundamental role of soil across the seasonal transitions, centralizing the theme “SOIL for LIFE” amid a vibrant depiction of soil layers. Surrounding this core are quadrants each symbolizing a season—spring’s renewal, summer’s peak growth, autumn’s harvest, and winter’s dormancy—through distinct colors and imagery reflective of ecological rhythms.
This artistic rendering not only celebrates the cyclical dynamics of nature supported by fe
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● Saline-alkali land is an important underutilized resource in China that could complement arable land and maintain the food security. ● China has made great progress in saline-alkali soil reclamation and utilization, and developed customized technologies for these soils. ● In the future, comprehensive management strategies should be implemented by integrating traditional saline-alkali soil management practices and new technologies to increase crop tolerance.
Soil salinity is a global threat to the productivity of arable land. With the impact of population growth and development of social economy in China, the area of arable land has been shrinking in recent decades and is approaching a critical threshold of 120 Mha, the minimum area for maintaining the national food security. Saline-alkaline land, as important backup reserve, has been receiving increased attention as an opportunity to expand land resources. This review first summarizes the general principles and technologies of saline soil reclamation to support plant growth, including leaching salts or blocking the rise of salts, and soil fertility enhancement to improve the buffering capacity. Then the progress in this area in China is described including the customization of technologies and practices used in different saline-alkali regions. Following the soil management strategies, the concept of selecting crops for saline soil is proposed. This encompasses halophyte planting, salt-tolerant crop breeding and the application of saline-adapted functional microorganisms to improve the adaptation of crops. Finally, the current problems and challenges are evaluate, and future research directions and prospects proposed for managing this major soil constraint.
● Soil acidification is determined by proton production and soil buffering capacity. ● Cropland acidification is mainly caused by anthropogenic activities. ● Nitrogen transformations dominate anthropogenic soil acidification processes. ● Acidification stage-specific strategies are needed for managing soil acidification. ● Optimizing N rate and N form is highly effective in mitigating soil acidification.
Soil acidification is a serious constraint to food production worldwide. This review explores its primary causes, with a focus on the role of nitrogen fertilizer, and suggests mitigation strategies based on optimal N management. Natural acidification is determined by the leaching of weak acid mainly caused by climate and soil conditions, whereas the use of ammonium-based fertilizers, nitrate leaching and removal of base cations (BCs) by crop harvesting mostly accounts for anthropogenic acidification. In addition, low soil acid buffering capacity, mainly determined by soil parent materials and soil organic matter content, also accelerates acidification. This study proposes targeted mitigation strategies for different stages of soil acidification, which include monitoring soil carbonate content and pH of soils with pH > 6.5 (e.g., calcareous soil), use of alkaline amendments for strongly acidic soils (pH < 5.5) with aluminum toxicity risk to pH between 5.5 and 6.5, and decreasing acidification rates and supplementing BCs to maintain this optimal pH range, especially for soils with low acid buffering capacity. Effective mitigation involves optimizing the rate and form of N fertilizers used, regulating N transformation processes, and establishing an integrated soil–crop management system that balances acid production and soil buffering capacity.
● Soil compaction due to intensive agriculture threatens soil quality, crop growth, and food security. ● Study explores the factors contributing to compaction, aiming to develop effective mitigation methods. ● The goal is to reduce soil compaction, improve soil quality, boost crop yield and enhance agricultural sustainability. ● Innovations needed to address soil compaction in modern agriculture.
With the development of agricultural technology to meet the growing demands of a rapidly increasing population and economic development, intensive agriculture practices have been widely adopted globally. However, this intensification has resulted in adverse consequences for soil structure due to intensified farming activities and increased usage of heavy farm machinery. Of particular concern is soil compaction, which leads to the degradation of physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. Soil compaction negatively impacts crop growth, reduces yields and poses a significant threat to food security and the overall sustainability of agricultural systems. Recognizing these challenges, this review aims to deepen understanding of the factors contributing to soil compaction and to develop effective mitigation strategies. By doing so, it is intended to attenuate the adverse impacts of soil compaction, improve soil structure, increase crop yield and ultimately enhance the sustainability of agricultural practices.
● Continuous cropping obstacles (CCOs) cause, on average, 22% reduction in crop production, seriously threatening sustainable agricultural development. ● Changes in the soil ecological environment are an essential and easily overlooked cause of CCOs. ● Studying CCOs from the perspective of the soil microbial food web may provide new approaches for explaining the formation mechanism of CCOs and controlling soilborne pathogens. ● Not all continuous cropping systems have CCOs, and some systems may enrich beneficial microorganisms to form healthy and disease-suppressive soil.
Due to the increasing global population and limited land resources, continuous cropping has become common. However, after a few years of continuous cropping, obstacles often arise that cause soil degeneration, decreased crop yield and quality, and increased disease incidence, resulting in significant economic losses. It is essential to understand the causes and mitigation mechanisms of continuous cropping obstacles (CCOs) and then develop appropriate methods to overcome them. This review systematically summarizes the causes and mitigation measures of soil degradation in continuous cropping through a meta-analysis. It was concluded that not all continuous cropping systems are prone to CCOs. Therefore, it is necessary to grasp the principles governing the occurrence of diseases caused by soilborne pathogens in different cropping systems, consider plant–soil-organisms interactions as a system, scientifically regulate the physical and chemical properties of soils from a systems perspective, and then regulate the structure of microbial food webs in the soil to achieve a reduction in diseases caused by soilborne pathogens and increase crop yield ultimately. This review provides reference data and guidance for addressing this fundamental problem.
● Global black soil distribution map developed by using country-driven approach. ● Black soils are key to global food security and climate change mitigation and adaptation. ● Black soils form under various pedoenvironments at global level. ● Black soils predominantly occur in Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern Asia, and the northern and southern extremities of the Americas. ● Black soils hold a substantial global soil organic carbon stock, amounting to about 56 Gt.
Black soils, characterized by their thick, dark horizons enriched with organic matter, epitomize highly fertile soils. However, their fertility precipitates intense land use, engendering challenges such as soil erosion, nutrient depletion, pollution, compaction, salinization, and acidification. Notably, these soils are significant contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, primarily due to substantial losses in soil organic carbon. Despite these challenges, black soils are pivotal for global food production. This paper delineates the implementation of digital soil mapping for the global cartography of black soils and human interference on these soils. Predominantly distributed in Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern Asia, and North and South America, black soils cover an approximate area of 725 Mha, with the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, and China collectively have over half of this area. Agriculturally, these soils underpin significant proportions of global crop yields, producing 66% of sunflower, 30% of wheat, and 26% of potato outputs. The organic carbon content in the upper 30 cm of these soils is estimated at 56 Gt. Sustainable management of black soils is imperative for ensuring food security and addressing climate change on a global scale.
● Cultivated land quality can be considered in four dimensions: suitability, contiguity, resistance, and ecological stress. ● China’s future goals for construct cultivated land quality include four aspects: promoting the sustainable use of resources, improving the economic benefits of farming, coping with extreme meteorological disasters and meeting the transition of the food system. ● In the future, China should create three major food production spaces: high-standard, low- to medium-yield, and marginal cultivated land. ● Paths for improving cultivated land quality in the three major food production spaces were developed.
Quality is the core feature of cultivated land. In the face of deteriorating cultivated land quality and growing food demand, improving cultivated land quality is a top priority for guaranteeing the sustainable use of resources and national food security. Cultivated land quality in the new era can be considered in four dimensions: suitability, contiguity, resistance and ecological stress. Cultivated land suitability in China shows a decreasing trend from east to west, cultivated land contiguity is high in the north-east and low in the south-west. In terms of cultivated land resistance, the number of strongly and weakly resistant cropping fields is small and spatially clustered. Cultivated land with ecological stress is mainly located in the northern region. Based on the current situation of cultivated land quality and the strategic needs of national high-quality development, China’s future goals for improving cultivated land quality include four aspects: promoting the sustainable use of resources, improving the economic benefits of farming, coping with extreme meteorological disasters and meeting the transition of the food system. Against the backdrop of a volatile international environment and high domestic demand for food, China should guarantee a safe supply of staples, a stable supply of animal feed and a moderate supply of high-nutrient food. In the future, China should create three major food production spaces: high-standard, low- to medium-yield, and marginal cultivated land. China urgently needs to construct three paths to implement the goal of improving cultivated land quality, namely the development of high-standard cultivated land with the core of spatial optimization, resilience enhancement and scale coupling, the transformation of low- to medium-yield cultivated land with the core of obstacle elimination, tenure adjustment, ecological sustainable, and the conservation development of marginal cultivated land with a focus on sustainable use.
● Much of the world’s agricultural land has been degraded through soil loss and degradation of soil organic matter. ● Regenerative farming practices based on combining cover crops, reduced tillage, and diverse crop rotations can rebuild soil, soil organic matter, and soil health. ● In the coming decades, global food security will increasingly depend on agricultural policies that respectively support soil-building practices.
Over the course of the postglacial period has managed to add degrade a substantial portion of the world’s potential agricultural land. The soil loss and degradation that has repeatedly impacted regional societies around the world resulted from agricultural practices that increased the physical loss of soil (erosion), reduced soil organic matter, changed pH (acidification) or salinity, and disrupted or altered communities of soil life. In the coming century, as continued soil degradation threatens global food security while the global population keeps rising it is imperative that farmers develop and adopt soil-health building (regenerative) practices to solve a problem that has plagued societies throughout history. Growing evidence suggests that agricultural systems that combine cover crops, reduced tillage, and diverse crop rotations can reduce erosion, enhance soil health and rebuild soil organic matter to cultivate beneficial soil life and harvest both economic and environmental benefits. In the coming post-oil world, global food security would benefit from a global effort to promote soil restoration to help addresses the challenge of sustainably feeding the world, increase soil-based carbon sequestration, protect on-farm biodiversity and reduce off-farm water pollution. Because soil security sets a solid foundation for global food security, agricultural policies and subsidies should be reformed to encourage farmers to adopt regenerative, soil-building practices.
● Soil properties varied within coefficients of variation ranging from 7% to 169%. ● High variation in available phosphorus was caused by different management practices. ● Midland plains are dominated by Vertisol and Nitosols more suitable for agriculture. ● Lowland and mountainous highland area of the watershed are neither fertile nor suitable for agriculture. ● Lime application and organic fertilizer are fundamental to reversing soil acidity.
Awareness of how soil properties vary over agroecosystems (AES) is essential for understanding soil potentials and improving site-specific agricultural management strategies for a sustainable ecosystem. This study examined the characteristics of soil quality attributes and implications for agriculture in the Choke Mountain watershed in Ethiopia. Forty-seven composite soil samples (0–20 cm deep) were collected from lowland and valley fragmented (AES 1), midland plain with black soil (AES 2), midland plain with brown soil (AES 3), sloppy midland land (AES 4), and hilly and mountainous highlands (AES 5). Ten of 15 soil quality properties were significant (P < 0.05 or 0.01), including silt, exchangeable bases, cation exchange capacity, percent base saturation, pH, organic matter, total nitrogen and available phosphorous (P) across the five AES. However, all properties were variable with coefficients of variation from 7% (total porosity) to 169% (available P) across the AES. Although AES 2 and 3 are affected by waterlogging and acidity, these two have better prospects for agriculture, but AES 1, 4, and 5 are unsuitable for agriculture because of soil erosion. Therefore, appropriate and applicable soil management strategies, particularly lime application and organic fertilizer, are fundamental to reversing soil acidity and improving soil fertility.
● 13C isotope analysis was used to estimate the contribution of new and old carbon to SOC. ● The maize plot with high N rate improved SOC fixation than the maize plot with low N rate. ● The maize plot with high N rate transferred organic matter to a deeper soil layer. ● There are remarkable differences in turnover time of SOC under different N rates.
Empirical research indicates that heightened soil nitrogen availability can potentially diminish microbial decomposition of soil organic carbon (SOC). Nevertheless, the relationship between SOC turnover response to N addition and soil depth remains unclear. In this study, soils under varying N fertilizer application rates were sampled up to 100 cm deep to examine the contribution of both new and old carbon to SOC across different soil depths, using a coupled carbon and nitrogen isotopic approach. The SOC turnover time for the plot receiving low N addition (250 kg·ha−1·yr−1 N) was about 20−40 years. Conversely, the plot receiving high N (450 kg·ha−1·yr−1 N) had a longer SOC turnover time than the low N plot, reaching about 100 years in the upper 10−20 cm layer. The rise in SOC over the entire profile with low N addition primarily resulted from an increase in the upper soil (0−40 cm) whereas with high N addition, the increase was mainly from greater SOC in the deeper soil (40−100 cm). Throughout the entire soil layer, the proportion of new organic carbon derived from maize C4 plant sources was higher in plots treated with a low N rate than those treated with a high N rate. This implies that, in contrast to low N addition agricultural practices, high N addition predominantly enhances the soil potential for fixing SOC by transporting organic matter from surface soils to deeper layers characterized by more stable properties. This research offers a unique insight into the dynamics of deep carbon under increased N deposition, thereby aiding in the formulation of policies for soil carbon management.
● Biochar-compost-based controlled-release urea fertilizer (BCRUF) pellets with an active microbial community were successfully synthesized. ● The releasing time of 80% N in BCRUF was 4–6 h in the water and 192 h (8 days) in soil. ● Processing parameters of BCRUF fabrication was influencing the microbe populations in the pellets. ● The BCRUF showed very promising characteristics to improve NUE and sustainability in agricultural production.
Nitrogen (N) fertilizers in agriculture suffer losses by volatilization of N to the air, surface runoff and leaching into the soil, resulting in low N use efficiency (NUE) (
