Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure Under Grassland management

Abstract

Abstract Twenty sites representing the typical range of grass‐based beef and dairy production management intensity in Ireland were used to assess soil structural quality with the Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure ( VESS ) method combined with laboratory analysis. The results showed that VESS was suitable for assessing soil structural quality for grassland productivity. According to the threshold values proposed by Ball [Soil Use and Management (2007), 23 , 329–337] for management intervention, all fields except one in this study were between S q 1 and S q 3, indicating that the typical range of management intensity does not cause undue soil damage and can be regarded as sustainable for soil structure. There was an indication that as intensification increases, temperate maritime grassland soils showed signs of degradation with respect to soil structure for maintaining grass productivity. While reseeding might solve some problems, it causes others due to the release of soil carbon. This raises the prospect that ‘sustainable intensification’ of livestock production may be limited by the health of the soil resource that supports it. Significant negative correlations between S q and soil C content ( P < 0.01) and between S q and soil N content ( P < 0.05) were observed, indicating a close relationship between soil structure and soil carbon and nitrogen.