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Smaf: A Soil Health Assessment Tool, D. L. Karlen, C. D. Nance, D. L. Dinnes, D. W. Meek
Smaf: A Soil Health Assessment Tool, D. L. Karlen, C. D. Nance, D. L. Dinnes, D. W. Meek
Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS
The Soil Management Assessment Framework (SMAF) was developed to help quantify soil quality/health effects of tillage, crop rotation, and other soil management practices. Our objective was to determine if the SMAF could detect soil health differences after growing a single winter triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) crop. Soil samples were collected from 0 to 7.5- and 7.5 to 15- cm depth increments during the 2003 – 2004 and 2004 – 2005 growing seasons near Ames and Lewis, IA, and analyzed for several potential soil quality indicators. The SMAF analysis showed higher soil quality ratings for surface than subsurface samples. It also …