Comparison of Two Different Measures of Soil Quality in an Orchard Context.

Soil Quality may be measured in multiple ways. We use the results of two different sets of laboratory analyses to examine the soil quality and functioning of soils from plots in a citrus orchard in South Texas. Cornell Soil Health Laboratory analyses are primarily chemical and physical in nature; the analyses of Earthfort Laboratories is exclusively biological in nature. Soil samples originate from subplots in which fertilizer and compost treatments were applied from 2003-2005. Subplot results will indicate residual benefits of compost application. Compost/fertilization subplots are embedded in a larger experiment in which main plots represent two types of irrigation treatment (microjet versus drip/partial root zone drying). Main plot results will therefore indicate implications of irrigation technique for soil quality. Both the Earthfort and Cornell Soil Health Laboratories provide indices of soil quality based on their respective analytes. We will compare the results and indices from these two laboratories.  Results are not yet available as field work will be carried out in June 2015.