Soil Organic Carbon (SOC)
Benchmark Value
Scoring Curve
This curve shows how a field measurement for this indicator would score across all available benchmark forms in this context. The scoring engine uses 10 benchmarks together — the OptimalRange form drives the primary score, while 9 guard(s) constrain the result.
Evidence & Context
They defined soils with less than 1.2% SOC as "low fertility" and demonstrated that these soils exhibited the lowest grain yields and the poorest agronomic efficiency in response to fertilizer application.
Critical lower boundary of Soil Organic Carbon below which soil functional health is impaired.
A critical lower boundary for SOC representing a threshold below which key soil functions and ecosystem services are significantly compromised.
Below this level, soil functional health is critically impaired, particularly the ability to respond to nutrient inputs, leading to a collapse in agronomic efficiency and ecosystem services.
Sources (1)
CRITICAL SOIL ORGANIC CARBON RANGE FOR OPTIMAL CROP ...
View SourceSupporting Sources (2)
Additional references from the underlying research that informed this benchmark.
CRITICAL SOIL ORGANIC CARBON RANGE FOR OPTIMAL CROP RESPONSE TO MINERAL FERTILISER NITROGEN ON A FERRALSOL | Experimental Agriculture - Cambridge University Press
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Farming system legacy impacts on the storage and persistence of soil organic carbon and understanding the different types carbon in northern cropping systems
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