Responses of Soil Properties to Organic Amendments

The escalating population of the world is forcing the nations to rely on the synthetic fertilizers and chemicals which persistently pose threat not only to the human lives but create ecological imbalance. The rescue to this alarming condition is switching to the human-friendly mode of production system alias organic farming. Organic farming is a holistic approach to food production which aims to promote and maintain edaphic factors, human health, and ecological balance. This chapter presents a brief and comprehensive review of the impact of organic amendments on soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. The organic amendments enhance the soil structure by enhancing aggregate stability, aggregate hydrophobicity, soil porosity, and soil permeability and reducing bulk density. The effect of the organic waste surcharge on the chemical properties can be recognized in terms of the increased organic carbon and macronutrient concentration in soil and decreased toxic concentration of the heavy metals. Organic farming helps in the improvement of soil biological health by proliferating the microbial mass and activity. However, the application of organic amendments should follow recommendations in order to get desirable results.