Assessment of Soil Quality in Cultivated, Pasture, and Conservation Reserve Program Lands.

With an increasing population, the world’s soils are experiencing unprecedented levels of use and change. The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of land use on various soil quality parameters including density, penetration resistance, biological diversity and biomass, infiltration, carbon flux, and aggregate stability. This study was conducted on a farm in Pierce County, Wisconsin. Four different land uses were studied, including a cultivated row-crop field, pasture, 20-year Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) installment and an undisturbed fenceline (to represent native soil conditions). The soil type across all land uses was a Santiago series (Haplic Glossudalfs) formed in loess over till. Results showed that the row cropped field and pasture areas had the lowest overall soil quality (significantly higher bulk density and lower aggregate stability and infiltration rate) and the undisturbed area had highest soil quality. Infiltration rate, bulk density, and penetration resistance of the CRP area was intermediate between the cropped land uses and the undisturbed area, indicating the potential for soil recovery in a relatively short duration of time. A better understanding of the implications of land conversion on our soils will help inform future land use decisions.