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Journal of Integrative Agriculture
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Assessing soil health responses to organic amendments in red-soil cropping systems

Xuan Peng1, Lu Luan1#, Jie Zheng2, Xiaoyue Wang2, Jia Liu3, Shungui Zhou1, Yuji Jiang1, 4#

1 College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China

2 State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China

3 Soil Fertilizer & Environmental and Resources Institute, Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanchang 330200, China

4 Nanping Multidisciplinary Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Nanping 353000, China

 Highlights 

· Organic material amendments significantly improved soil health and crop yield.

· Crop yield is positively correlated with various soil health evaluation indices.

· EFA-SHI exhibited relatively high sensitivity and positive yield correlation.

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摘要  

土壤健康是维持作物可持续生产的重要基础。然而,在红壤农田生态系统中,有机物料施用对土壤健康的影响及不同土壤健康评价方法的适用性仍缺乏系统研究。本研究以玉米和花生种植系统为对象,通过比较线性评分法(L)、S形评分法(Sig)、土壤健康综合评价法(CASH)和探索性因子分析法(EFA4种土壤健康评价方法定量评价有机物料施用对土壤健康和作物生产力的影响结果表明,有机物料施用显著改善了土壤健康,其中NSM处理的改善效果最为明显。在4种评价方法中,探索性因子分析法对土壤健康指数的变化最为敏感。所有土壤健康指数(SHI)均与作物产量呈正相关,表明土壤健康的改善伴随着作物生产性能的提高。总体而言,NSM处理较大程度地改善土壤健康和作物生产性能基于探索性因子分析的评价方法可为红壤农田生态系统土壤健康评价提供一种有效的定量评价方法。本研究结果可为中国南方地区土壤可持续管理提供参考。



Abstract  

Soil health is widely recognized as a key determinant of sustainable crop production. However, the effects of organic material amendments on soil health and the relative performance of different assessment approaches remain insufficiently explored in red-soil agroecosystems. We quantified the effects of organic material amendments on soil health and crop productivity in maize and peanut cropping systems and compared four soil health assessment approaches: linear scoring (L), sigmoidal scoring (Sig), comprehensive assessment of soil health (CASH), and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Our results indicate that organic material amendments significantly improved soil health, with the greatest improvements observed under the NSM treatment. Among the four approaches evaluated, EFA-SHI showed relatively high sensitivity and a positive relationship with crop yield. Positive relationships between all SHIs and crop yield suggest that improvements in soil health were accompanied by enhanced crop performance. Overall, our findings suggest that the NSM treatment was associated with greater improvements in soil health and crop performance and that EFA-based assessment may provide a useful data-driven approach for soil health evaluation in red-soil agroecosystems. These findings may offer a reference for sustainable soil management in southern China.

Keywords:  organic material amendments       soil health       soil productivity  
Online: 11 September 2026  
Fund: 

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42477313), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFD1900300-3), the Outstanding Youth Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China (2025J010024), and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (BK20242111).

About author:  Xuan Peng, E-mail: 52408031062@fafu.edu.cn; #Correspondence Lu Luan, E-mail: lluan@fafu.edu.cn; Yuji Jiang, E-mail: yjjiang@fafu.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

Xuan Peng, Lu Luan, Jie Zheng, Xiaoyue Wang, Jia Liu, Shungui Zhou, Yuji Jiang. 2026. Assessing soil health responses to organic amendments in red-soil cropping systems. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, Doi:10.1016/j.jia.2026.09.019

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