On-farm soil health assessment is an important approach that complements other sources of information available to farmers, such as (i) results from soil samples tested in a laboratory (typically aiming on soil nutrient supply for optimizing fertilization, and (ii) remote sensing data from satellites that provide information on the crop vigour which is, among others, responding to the status of soil-related growth factors (e.g., water, nutrients). Digital smartphone tools are intended (i) to standardize and guide visual assessments of the state of soil, and (ii) to provide image-analytics-based (semi)quantitative data on soil (e.g., soil colour) and/or soil status-related observations (e.g., indicator plants). With the improvement of smartphone imaging quality (hardware side) and advances in image analytics (software side), there is currently a dynamic development intending to provide novel digital tools for soil assessment (e.g., Aitkenhead et al., 2016; Fan et al., 2017; Gupta et al., 2023). Within NBSoil we aim to explore the use of mobile apps for soil health monitoring to provide tools to next- generation soil health advisors on relevant measures that are considered responsive to nature-based solutions, in particular soil organic carbon and soil structure. For the initial version of smartphone digital tools, we screened for currently available tools and their capabilities in order to (i) provide an overview and identify current capabilities and potential knowledge gaps (section 2), and (ii) make an initial selection of tool(s) to be prioritized for testing on NBSoil demo-sites and inclusion into MOOC and further advanced training courses (section 3).
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Agricultural run-off and subsurface drainage tiles transport a significant amount of nitrogen and phosphorus leached after fertilization. alchemia-nova GmbH in collaboration with University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna developed two multi-layer vertical filter systems to address the agricultural run-off issue, which has been installed on the slope of an agricultural field in Mistelbach, Austria. While another multi-layer addressing subsurface drainage water is implemented in Gleisdorf, Austria. The goal is to develop a drainage filter system to retain water and nutrients. Both multi-layer filter systems contain biochar and other substrates with adsorption properties of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus). The filter system can be of practical use if an excess of nutrients being washed out is of concern in the fields of the practitioner by keeping the surrounding waters clean. This approach may result in economic value by re-using the saturated biochar as fertilizer and improving the soil structure, thus increasing long-term soil fertility. Link: https://wateragri.eu/a-bio-inspired-multilayer-drainage-system/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 858735This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 858735. FACTSHEET NANOCELLULOSE MEMBRANES FOR NUTRIENT RECOVERY Key information Functionalized nanocellulose membranes can take up nitrate and phosphate. These membranes can be put in a water treatment unit. As the membranes are biobased, degradable materials, they can after use be added to the soil, thus returning the leached nutrients back for their original purpose providing fertilizers (nutrient recycling).
Because variables such as temperature and humidity have a profound effect on the activity of crop pests, diseases and natural enemies, the ability to monitor environmental conditions within a crop has always been important for crop protection.