SOIL HEALTH AND
LAND USE MANAGEMENT

Edited by Maria C. Hernandez-Soriano










Soil Health and Land Use Management
Edited by Maria C. Hernandez-Soriano


Published by InTech
Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia

Copyright © 2011 InTech
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Notice
Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors
and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the
accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no
responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any
materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book.

Publishing Process Manager Ivana Zec
Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic
Cover Designer InTech Design Team
Image Copyright Lycha, 2011. DepositPhotos

First published December, 2011
Printed in Croatia

A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com
Additional hard copies can be obtained from


Soil Health and Land Use Management, Edited by Maria C. Hernandez-Soriano
p. cm.
ISBN 978-953-307-614-0









Contents

Preface IX
Part 1 Soil Characteristics Control Biogeochemical Processes 1
Chapter 1 Soil Fertility Status
and Its Determining Factors in Tanzania 3
Shinya Funakawa, Hiroshi Yoshida,
Tetsuhiro Watanabe, Soh Sugihara,
Method Kilasara and Takashi Kosaki
Chapter 2 The Role of Aluminum-Organo Complexes
in Soil Organic Matter Dynamics 17
Maria C. Hernández-Soriano
Part 2 Land Use Impact on Soil Quality 33
Chapter 3 Quantifying Soil Moisture Distribution
at a Watershed Scale 35
Manoj K. Jha
Chapter 4 Pesticide Contamination in Groundwater
and Streams Draining Vegetable Plantations
in the Ofinso District, Ghana 51
Benjamin O. Botwe, William J. Ntow and Elvis Nyarko
Chapter 5 Fire Impact on Several Chemical and
Physicochemical Parameters in a Forest Soil 67
Andrea Rubenacker, Paola Campitelli,
Manuel Velasco and Silvia Ceppi
Part 3 Soil Fertility and Irrigation 87
Chapter 6 Nutrient Mobility and Availability with

Selected Irrigation and Drainage Systems for
Vegetable Crops on Sandy Soils 89
Shinjiro Sato and Kelly T. Morgan
VI Contents

Chapter 7 Forest Preservation, Flooding and Soil Fertility:
Evidence from Madagascar 111
Bart Minten and Claude Randrianarisoa
Part 4 Soil Nitrogen Management 131
Chapter 8 Strategies for Managing Soil Nitrogen
to Prevent Nitrate-N Leaching
in Intensive Agriculture System 133
Liu Zhaohui, Song Xiaozong, Jiang Lihua, Lin Haitao,
Xu Yu, Gao Xinhao, Zheng Fuli, Tan Deshui,
Wang Mei, Shi Jing and Shen Yuwen
Chapter 9 Nitratation Promotion Process for Reducing
Nitrogen Losses by N
2
O/NO Emissions
in the Composting of Livestock Manure 155
Yasuyuki Fukumoto
Part 5 Soil Salinity 175
Chapter 10 Effect of Salinity on Soil Microorganisms 177
Celia Maria Maganhotto de Souza Silva
and Elisabeth Francisconi Fay
Part 6 Soil Pollution Management 199
Chapter 11 Arsenic Behaviour in Polluted Soils
After Remediation Activities 201
Francisco Martín, Mariano Simón, Elena Arco,
Ana Romero and Carlos Dorronsoro

Chapter 12 Restoration of Cadmium (Cd)
Pollution Soils by Use of Weeds 217
Masaru Ogasawara
Chapter 13 Herbicide Off-Site Transport 229
Timothy J. Gish, John H. Prueger, William P. Kustas,
Jerry L. Hatfield, Lynn G. McKee and Andrew Russ
Part 7 Soil Pollution Assessment 253
Chapter 14 Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment of Sediments
Pollution with Heavy Metals of Small Water Reservoirs 255
Bogusław Michalec
Chapter 15 Molecular Analyses of Soil Fungal Community
– Methods and Applications 279
Yuko Takada Hoshino
Contents VII

Chapter 16 Earthworm Biomarkers as Tools
for Soil Pollution Assessment 305
Maria Giulia Lionetto, Antonio Calisi and Trifone Schettino








Preface

“Be it deep or shallow, red or black, sand or clay, the soil is the link between the rock
core of the earth and the living things on its surface. It is the foothold for the plants we

grow. Therein lays the main reason for our interest in soils.” Roy W. Simonson,
USDA Yearbook of Agriculture, 1957.
The British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) was probably the first scientist to
examine a soil profile and suggest factors responsible for the structure of the various
layers. Nowadays, Soil Science is the science dealing with soils as a natural resource on
the surface of the Earth, including soil formation, classification, and mapping. In
addition, understanding the physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of
soils is essential, and how these properties relate to the use and management of the
soils. Soils play multiple roles in the quality of life throughout the world, not only as
the resource for food production, but also as the support for our structures, the
environment, the medium for waste disposal, water, and the storage of nutrients.
Healthy soil, meaning the 'fitness' (or condition) of the soil in relation to its inherent
(or potential) capability, is productive, sustainable, and profitable. If soil can sustain
biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote the health of
plants and animals, it is considered healthy. Understanding the impact of land
management practices on soil properties and processes can provide useful indicators
of economic and environmental sustainability.
Soil Health and Land Use Management is a book designed by InTech - Open Access
Publisher in collaboration with recognized authors from Europe, North and South
America, China, and Japan, unifying biological, chemical, and agricultural approaches
to research on soil health. This book is intended to provide a broad vision of the
fundamental importance of soil health and the development of feasible management
and remediation strategies to preserve and ameliorate the fitness of soils.
Simultaneously, this book also provides a deep insight into a suite of specific problems
related with land management and soil pollution, from the impact of agricultural
practices, to the introduction of novel methodologies for soil pollution assessment.
Therefore, this volume will be a valuable reading to a global audience of scientists,
researchers, environmental educators, administrators, technicians, managers, students,
and the general public.
X Preface


The first two chapters discuss the necessity of a thorough characterization of soil
properties in order to develop management and remediation strategies, with a
particular focus in the mineralogical composition and the turnover of organic matter.
The chapters in section two present relevant case studies about the impact of land use
on soil health, while section three and four introduce several strategies to improve
land management. The last three sections encompass chapters dedicated to
environmental scenarios of high concern, as being salt-affected soils or degraded, due
to heavy metals or contamination from pesticides. Remediation strategies and long-
term effectiveness are presented in section six, while section seven launches novel
methodologies for highly efficient evaluation of soil pollution.
The sixteen chapters of this book can be read independently, but like the different
components of soil, they mutually benefit and enrich each other, orchestrating a
valuable composition that depicts current trends in soil health from a
multidisciplinary approach.
For their excellent work, special thanks to the technical editor and sincere appreciation
to Ms Ivana Zec, the Publishing Process Manager who coordinated the publication
process of this volume, and assisted me and the authors in completing our tasks
smoothly and in a timely manner.

M.C. Hernández-Soriano
North Carolina State University
USA



Part 1
Soil Characteristics
Control Biogeochemical Processes