World Applied Sciences Journal 9 (1): 101-108, 2010 ISSN 1818-4952 © IDOSI Publications, 2010 Corresponding Author: Dr. Majid Rashidi, Member of Young Researchers Club, Islamic Azad University, Takestan Branch, Iran 101 Evaluation of Some Soil Quality Indicators in the Varamin Region, Iran Majid Rashidi, Mohsen Seilsepour, Iraj Ranjbar, 1 2 1 Mohammad Gholami and Saeed Abbassi 1 1 Department of Agricultural Machinery, Faculty of Agriculture, 1 Islamic Azad University, Takestan Branch, Iran Department of Soil and Water Research, 2 Tehran Province Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Iran Abstract: Sustainable agriculture greatly depends on soil quality (SQ). This study was conducted in the Research Site of Tehran Province Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center in Varamin, Iran to study a set of inexpensive and agronomically meaningful indicators of SQ, i.e. aggregate stability, available water capacity, organic matter content, active carbon content, pH, available phosphorus and available potassium. For each SQ indicator, the measured value was reported as well as the associated rating score from its scoring curve. Results of the study indicated very favorable results for chemical indicators, with high rating scores for pH, available phosphorous and available potassium (88, 100 and 100, respectively). The remaining indicators, i.e. the physical and biological indicators of SQ, had unfavorable or very unfavorable results and consequently showed evidence of low physical and biological SQ. Low rating scores for aggregate stability, available water content and organic matter content (20, 44 and 3, respectively) were evidences of soil degradation from long-term intensive tillage and lacking use of soil-building crops or organic matter additions. Also, very low rating score for active carbon content (4) indicated that the soil of site was biologically degraded and unbalanced. Key words: Soil quality Soil quality assessment Soil quality indicators Soil quality monitoring Varamin Tehran Iran INTRODUCTION indices from groups of SQ indicators (Fig. 4) are being Soil quality (SQ) includes an inherent and a dynamic the integrated sustainability of agricultural management component. The former is an expression of the soil practices [2, 6, 11-13]. In a more holistic SQ paradigm, forming factors, documented by soil surveys as expressed integrative assessment of the three SQ domains (chemical, by land capability classification. Dynamic SQ, however, physical and biological) would be accomplished by SQ refers to the condition of soil that is changeable in a indicators that represent soil processes relevant to soil short period of time (Fig. 1) largely due to human impact functions and provide information that is useful for and management [1-4]. The SQ concept encompasses the practical soil management [4, 9]. However, measuring of chemical, physical and biological soil characteristics SQ indicators must be inexpensive and dependent on (Fig. 2) needed to maintain environmental quality and minimal infrastructure if they are to be widely adopted agricultural sustainability [4-8]. With farmer and lay beyond the research domain and especially in the audiences, the term “soil health” is often preferred when developing countries such as Iran. SQ indicator suitability referring to this dynamic SQ concept as it suggests a can be judged by several criteria, such as relevance, holistic approach to soil management [9]. accessibility to users and measurability [14]. SQ can not be measured directly, but soil properties The objective of this work was to study a set of that are sensitive to changes in management can be used inexpensive and agronomically meaningful indicators of as SQ indicators [4, 10]. Methods for measuring individual SQ in the Research Site of Tehran Province Agricultural SQ indicators or minimum data set (Fig. 3) for calculating and Natural Resources Research Center in Varamin, Iran. developed for SQ monitoring over time and for evaluating