Maintaining agricultural productivity and sustainability is vital to global food security. A review of the research on potato cropping systems suggests that land management practices that improve soil health are also best for crop productivity. However, further long-term studies of the effects of land management on soil health are still required.

Agricultural soils are a key source of nitrous oxide (N₂O), a potent greenhouse gas. This study examined how soil type, bulk density and drainage affected soil gas diffusivity (D_p/D_o) and associated N₂O emissions. Soil D_p/D_o integrates soil moisture and bulk density effects on denitrification emissions and consequently plays a role in predicting the onset of soil N₂O fluxes and their mitigation.

A digital camera with data analytics is a useful tool to rapidly and nondestructively evaluate soil salinity for coastal bare land. We hypothesise that digital cameras can capture soil salt in the images and show them in each pixel, and we can estimate soil salt content from the pixels of digital images. Digital camera images have good potential to predict and manage soil salinity in the context of precision agriculture with the rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Little is known about the role of root-associated fungi in desert ecosystems, which precludes a better understanding of the dynamics and structure of this particular environment. In this paper, we characterised a group of novel fungi, which are able to grow and be dispersed in rodent dung, and also colonise the roots of desert plants. Our results show that these fungi have great variability in specific physiological traits, suggesting their potential to promote development and growth of desert plant species.

The effect of conservation agriculture (CA) on some soil properties was tested across two contrasting agro-ecological zones in Malawi. CA led to increases in amount of physically protected stable fraction of particulate organic carbon, soil total porosity, pore size distribution, and in soil plant available water compared to conventional tillage. As such, CA has potential to improve soil quality.

Calcareous soils inherently contain high levels of available potassium (K). Understanding K reserves and their release properties and availability to plants is essential for improving K-fertiliser management. Significant correlations between the dry matter and K uptake of ryegrass cultivation in three calcareous soil orders support the hypothesis that despite the high content of inherent K, calcareous soils require K fertiliser due to intensive cropping.

Reclamation processes can improve soil quality in coal mining areas but take several decades; thus, developing an efficient method of restoring soil quality within a shorter time is important. We investigated effects of short-term reclamation combined with chemical fertiliser on soil properties and quality, and found that reclamation duration is the main driving force to recover soil quality, and fertilisation enhances these beneficial effects. Thus, short-term reclamation combined with fertilisation is a potential strategy for promoting coal mine soil restoration.