Soil Protein and Respiration Measurement for Soil Health Assessment and Nitrogen Supply Prediction.

The Cornell Soil Health Test is a publicly available assessment of dynamic soil quality, which has been available to growers, researchers, and others since 2006.  As a complement to the existing suite of biological, physical, and chemical indicators of soil quality, we have been exploring the addition of measurements of the soil protein pool, and the soil respiration rate, to the assessment.  In addition to their promising utility as soil quality indicators, we have also been exploring the use of these measurements, as well as the other indicators in the assessment, for the prediction of nitrogen supply for crop production.  Up-to-date results will be presented.