Soil Health Assessment of Soil under Miscanthus × giganteus Cultivation

Abstract

Soil health is the capacity of soil to function as a living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. Healthy soils support the optimal crop yields and also plays a crucial role in protecting water quality and other aspects of environmental stewardship. Meanwhile, the agricultural damage by the earthquake causes serious crop productivity degradation in Japan. Thus, there is a need for research on crop productivity, especially land under the earthquake disaster. In addition, the global demand for renewable energy resources such as Miscanthus spp., mainly the triploid interspecific hybrid Miscanthus × giganteus (M × g), has increased substantially. Because it has the potential to have a high yield, sequester the carbon into the soils, and improve the soil health. Therefore, the objective of this study was to demonstrate soil health index assessment at Miscanthus spp. fields. We investigated (1) to quantify the impact on land use changes including Miscanthus, pasture, and arable land on soil health index. T soil under M × g increases the over-all SHI value to compare another land use. Therefore, it can be concluded that M × g is the better land use management option in the cool climate regions such as Northern Japan.