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Evaluating common soil health tests for dryland wheat systems of inland Pacific Northwest

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Currently, several soil health testing approaches are available to assess soil health such as comprehensive assessment of soil health (CASH) and Haney soil health test (HSHT). However, suitability and interpretation of these tests vary considerably across regions due to inherent soil and climatic variability. Although CASH and HSHT have shown promise in their respective region of origin, suitability of these methods for inland Pacific Northwest region is unknown. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate suitability of CASH and HSHT in dryland wheat systems.

Methods

This study was conducted with samples collected during the Soil Health Institute’s North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements (NAPESHM). Soil samples were collected from multiple long-term grass pastures (GP), crop residue management under wheat-fallow (CR), tillage management under wheat-fallow (WT), and wheat-pea (WP) systems, which include treatments like tillage intensity, organic amendments, nitrogen (N) rates, and stubble burning. Samples were analyzed for indicators of CASH and HSHT methods.

Results

Among field studies, soil health scores for CASH and HSHT were greater under GP than other treatments and showed overall trend of GP > WP > CR > WT. Although most CASH and HSHT scores and indicators varied under treatments across field studies, there were only a few significant differences among treatments within any study. Both CASH and HSHT did not discern among soil health of any treatment within any study, except CR.

Conclusions

The lack of sensitivity of CASH and HSHT for management-induced soil health changes within field studies highlights the need for further extensive evaluation and/or calibration before regional adoption.

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Data availability

The dataset used in this study will be made available upon request to the corresponding author.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We really appreciate the efforts and inputs from the team of the Soil Health Institute’s project North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements (NAPESHM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lind Dryland Research Station, Washington State University, 781 E. Experiment Station Rd, Lind, WA, 99341, USA

    Surendra Singh & Shikha Singh

  2. Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center, Oregon State University, 48037 Tubbs Ranch Rd., Adams, OR, 97810, USA

    Stephen Machado & Francisco Calderon

  3. Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University, 2750 SW Campus Way, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Scott Lukas

  4. Grassland Oregon Seed, 4455 60th Ave., Salem, OR, 97305, USA

    Shannon B. Cappellazzi

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  1. Surendra Singh
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  2. Shikha Singh
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  4. Scott Lukas
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  5. Francisco Calderon
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  6. Shannon B. Cappellazzi
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Contributions

SM was responsible for conducting and maintaining the field studies. SC carried out and assisted in soil sampling from the trials and data management from the trials. SS1 and SC performed the data analyses. SS1, SS2, SC, and SM conceptualized the idea of the manuscript. SS1 wrote the first draft of the manuscript. SS2, SM, SL, FC, and SC revised and provided insightful suggestions on the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Surendra Singh.

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Singh, S., Singh, S., Machado, S. et al. Evaluating common soil health tests for dryland wheat systems of inland Pacific Northwest. J Soils Sediments 24, 1059–1070 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03697-3

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