User:Ogwu94/Soil regeneration

Contents:

1.0 Impacts of soil degradation

1.1 Soil Regeneration definition

1.2.0 Types of soil regeneration practices

1.2.1 Perennial crop biodiversity

1.2.2 Regenerative Agriculture

1.2.3 Use of Nanotechnology

1.2.4 Conservation agriculture methods

1.2.5 Green Manuring

1.2.6 Use of soil micro-biota

Article Draft
This article will be added to the 'regenerative practices' section of an existing Wikipedia article titled Soil regeneration.

Impacts of soil degradation:

Soil degradation can take many forms, but always entails a serious disruption of a healthy balance and interactions between plants, soil, and living organisms that drive key ecosystem functions. The soil ecosystem represents the co-adaption of various interacting organisms and species that regulate ecosystem processes essential to the functioning of earth's ecosystems. However, soil degradation can decouple and breakdown these interactions, hence, resulting in the loss of soil fertility, destruction of species' habitat, loss of biodiversity, and excessive nutrient runoff into lakes. It also has serious knock-on effects on humans, such as malnutrition, disease, forced migration, poverty, and even war. However, various studies have shown that the restoration of degraded soils can improve and restore interactions between organisms in the soil and also enhance plant-soil-microbe relationships and ecosystem services.

Soil regeneration definition:
Soil regeneration is the process of repairing a degraded soil. Techniques for revitalizing soil and maintaining the subsurface ecosystem include adding components such as: fungus, bacteria, and other plant life that support the health of the above-ground ecosystem. Additionally, the process of increasing the structure, microbial life, nutrient density, and total carbon levels of soil is also known as soil restoration. Numerous human undertakings have drained the Earth to the point where, in the last 70 years, nutritional levels in practically every type of food have decreased by between 10 and 100%. However, maintaining a consistent ground cover, boosting microbial populations, promoting biological variety, lowering the use of agricultural pesticides, and avoiding tillage can significantly improve soil quality.

types of soil regeneration practices:

These are the various practices that have been adopted by farmers and ecologists to restore soil health. These practices are the driving force behind a variety of beneficial processes that improve soil aggregation, water penetration, water retention, nutrient retention, decreased soil erosion, reduced agricultural runoff, and increased CO2 capture from the atmosphere. Together, these factors encourage robust and fruitful crops while also rebuilding depleted soils. Agroforestry and silvopasture are two cutting-edge techniques used to restore soil health. Silvopasture is the deliberate integration of trees, fodder plants, and livestock in a system that is actively maintained (the restoration of trees and tree crops on farms). Other methods which are discussed below include perennial crop biodiversity, regenerative agriculture, use of nano-technology, conservation agriculture, green manuring, and use of soil micro-biota.

perennial crop biodiversity: Perennial plants have a great potential of restoring degraded soil fertility. Results from various studies showed that restoration of plant biodiversity on a nutrient-poor, and unfertilized soil led to greater increases in soil fertility than occurred when these same plant species grew in monocultures. Over millennia, these perennial crops developed stable organic matter in soils. In addition to a variety of contributions to the nutrient profiles of the soil, this diversity of plants generates a variety of carbon plant exudates that give carbon to soil biological organisms. Using perennialization to restore lost fertility seems possible through the mechanism of carbon accretion and the efficient use and conservation of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the soil.

regenerative agriculture: Regenerative agriculture is fundamentally a holistic strategy that places soil health as the cornerstone and is intended to both sustain and regenerate soils. Regenerative agriculture refers to farming and grazing methods that, among other things, help to slow down the effects of climate change by restoring depleted soil biodiversity and rebuilding soil organic matter, hence, improving the water cycle and reduces carbon emissions. This not only aids in increasing soil biota diversity and health, but increases the biodiversity of both above and below the soil surface, while increasing both water holding capacity and sequestering carbon at greater depths. Research continues to reveal the damaging effects to soil from tillage, applications of agricultural chemicals and salt based fertilizers, and carbon mining, but regenerative agriculture reverses this paradigm to build for the future. These practices include: (i) minimizing soil disturbances, such as limited or no-tilling that minimize physical, biological, and chemical soil disturbances, (ii) soil coverage, which focuses on keeping the soil covered with vegetation and natural materials through mulching, cover crops, and pastures, (iii) keeping living roots in the soil as much as possible and (iv) integrating animals into the farm as much as possible.

use of nanotechnology:

The use of nanoparticles to restore degraded and polluted soils is called nanoremediation  . It is being investigated for the treatment of contaminated soil, wastewater, ground water, sediment, or other environmental elements. Nanoscience has recently enabled the creation of novel cost-effective and environmentally sound restoration solutions in comparison to conventional physio-chemical procedures. Due to their special surface qualities, nanoparticles can absorb/adsorb a wide range of pollutants and accelerate reactions by reducing the energy needed to break them down, and as a result, this remediation procedure prevents pollutants from building up and spreading from one medium to another. Nanoparticles can access contaminants that sorb to soil and increase the likelihood that they will come into contact with the target contaminant because of their small particle size, which also enables them to enter small pores in soil.

conservation agriculture (CA) method: Conservation agriculture (CA) differs from regenerative agriculture as CA aims to protect or maintain the original status of specific species or habitat, while regenerative agriculture seeks to produce agricultural commodities while at the same time supporting and restoring natural ecosystems. CA method is based on three agronomic principles: crop rotation, minimal soil disturbance (or "no-tillage"), and permanent organic mulch on the soil surface. With regionally modified approaches, CA concepts are generally applicable to all agricultural landscapes and land uses. The global spread of CA has prompted the promotion of new agricultural engineering technologies such as strip tillage equipment for minimal tillage, rippers and subsoilers designed for minimal soil disturbance, and seeders and transplanters that are used to work on the organic mulching conditions on soil surfaces.

green manuring:

Green manuring is a practice to plant crops that will be turned into the soil in order to protect soils from erosion, increase organic matter and restore nutrients in degraded soils. Green manure crops are typically produced in between the major crops. Growing green manure demonstrates to be an effective and affordable way to ensure the long-term productivity of farmed lands and restoration of soil fertility and health. To restore the soil, green manuring crops function by absorbing nutrients from the soil and storing them in their bodies. These crops are tilled into the soil while they are still green rather than being harvested and removed from the land since doing so would deplete the nutrients. The crops slowly disintegrate when returned to the soil and release nutrients over time for the benefit of the following crop. In addition, green manure provides a variety of soil creatures and bacteria with food, and they facilitate the spread of organic materials in soils by their mobility and activity, which also contribute to the development of sound soil structure. Various research has concluded that green manuring can restore degraded soils through increasing labile carbon pools and soil aggregation, Phosphorus, and Nitrogen availability and retention.

use of soil micro-biota: A category of microscopic life forms found in soil known as soil microorganisms/microbiota, which includes: bacteria, archaea, viruses, and eukaryotes like mushrooms. Soil microorganisms play a significant role in the rehabilitation of degraded soils by favorably affecting the moisture content and other physical characteristics of soil. Microorganisms dominate soil life and perform an array of vital soil functions by regulating nutrient cycling, decomposing organic matter, defining soil structure, suppressing plant diseases, and supporting plant productivity. Additionally, they aid in the breakdown of toxins and the transformation of organic matter in the soil. These tiny organisms collaborate with one another and carry out critical functions like the breakdown of complex organic materials (dead plants and animals), nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and siderophores synthesis. Because of the exceptionally fertile soil created by these microbial activity, agricultural practices can flourish without the usage of external chemical fertilizers. Nitrogen can be fixed as ammonia by diazotrophs or nitrogen-fixing bacteria through their metabolic pathways, particularly enzymatic activities. Rhizobiaceae bacteria are soil- borne bacteria that frequently infect plant root systems and produce root nodules.