Soil

VESS Assessment

Visual assessment of soil structure where you dig a 25x25x25cm soil spit and lay it out on a plastic bag. There may be layers in the soil so you can do the assessment on separate layers if necessary. You give the soil a structure score from 1 (good) to 5 (heavily compacted) based and record this.

Cost

No cost except for time taken to do the assessment.

 When to use

When the soil is moist but not saturated.

Time Requirement

It takes between 5-10 mins to do each assessment and it may be necessary to do a few in each field so it can be quite time consuming. AHDB Soil Health Partnership recommend doing 3 VESS assessments at 6 sites/year and rotating these around the farm but it depends what you want to achieve.

What will it tell me?

A repeatable assessment of soil structure which can be used to inform management decisions and record soil structure changes on the farm.

Farmer Pros

Really easy to do with very good information sheet and pictures of soil structure so you know what score to give. All farmers should be looking at soil structure in the spring and autumn so they get the soil management right. Get paid to do it now in SFI.

Farmer Cons

Can be time consuming if you sample multiple locations in multiple fields.

How to access

Download instructions and a VESS score chart from AHDB and see the resources below.

Resources

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Earthworm Count

Earthworms are an indicator of soil health, being impacted by pH, waterlogging, compaction, tillage, rotation, and organic matter management. By counting the number of adult earthworms in 10 soil spits of 25x25x25cm in a field you can assess whether or not your earth worm numbers are good, moderate or poor. Based on work done by the AHDB Soil Health Partnership.

Cost

No cost except for time taken to do the assessment.

 When to use

When the soil is moist but not saturated.

Time Requirement

It can be done at the same time as doing a VESS assessment and probably takes an additional 5-10 mins per soil spit.

What will it tell me?

A repeatable assessment of earthworm numbers can be used to assess soil health and the impact of changing management practices such as reducing tillage, adding organic matter or growing cover crops.

Farmer Pros

Easy and very interesting to compare earthworm numbers in different fields. You can really see differences depending on tillage management. Facinating to learn about different earthworms and their role in the soil.

Farmer Cons

Can be time consuming if you sample multiple locations in multiple fields. Not always easy to get the right conditions as its too wet or too dry these days!

How to access

Download instructions from AHDB

Nematode analysis

Nematode populations in soil can be used as indicators of healthy soil. There is 5 different tropic levels of nematode (herbivore, fungivore, bactiverous, omniverous & predatory) and if the population is balanced with similar numbers of each then the soil is likely to be healthy and functioning properly. When an imbalance occurs the soil is not functioning properly.

Cost

Price on application – contact nematology@fera.co.uk.

 When to use

When the soil is moist and relatively warm i.e. spring or autumn.

Time Requirement

Collect soil samples and send off for analysis immediately as soil needs to be fresh and kept cool.

What will it tell me?

A measure of soil health as a balance population of different nematodes from different trophic levels indicates a healthy the soil. The soil is scored on biodiversity, maturity, enrichment & structure.

Farmer Pros

Potentially really interesting results to indicate the health of different soils.

Farmer Cons

Results are quite complicated. The analysis is expensive.

How to access

Contact: nematology@fera.co.uk

Microresp

Microresp is for testing soil to determine microbial diversity in the soil. The test uses 25 different substrates which are included in test tubes with small amounts of soil. If there are microbes present that break down the specific substrate then CO2 is released and the amount is recorded through the colouration of agar jelly. The result quantifies microbial activity and diversity.

Cost

Price on application – contact sharvey@gwct.org.uk.

 When to use

When the soil is moist and relatively warm i.e. spring or autumn.

Time Requirement

Collect soil samples and send off for analysis immediately as soil needs to be fresh and kept cool.

What will it tell me?

It is a measure of soil health as the more abundant and diverse the soil microbiology is the more healthy the soil is.

Farmer Pros

The results are presented as the amount of CO2 released by the microbial activity in that soil. It is very interesting to compare soils with different management regimes i.e. cover crop/no cover crop or zero tilled/ploughed & power harrowed. 36 samples can be done in one analysis run so really useful if you want to compare lots of different fields, perhaps in a farmer cluster group.

Farmer Cons

Quite expensive. This test is not currently availabe at commercial soil testing labs and is only done by research institues like GWCT Allerton Project

How to access

Contact: sharvey@gwct.org.uk