Soil Biodiversity Of Healthy Soil And Healthy Life

It's time to talk about the importance of soil, home to more than two million species of life. Soil is the foundation of all forms of life and their existence depends on the quality of the soil. To this end, we celebrate World Soil Day on 5 December each year. The celebration began with the proclamation by the United Nations General Assembly of 5 December 2014 as the first official world soil day. This year, we celebrate World Soil Day with the theme "keeping soil active, protecting soil biodiversity" .

Soil plays a vital role not only in improving human life, but also in helping billions of other plants, animals and microbes. Many people do not know that the soil is a living thing. Every gram of soil contains billions of living things, including microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. These creatures are vital to our survival. But less than 1% of these species are identified, and we know the role of less than 1% of known species. Soil is the largest storehouse and the last domain of biodiversity. Most of the antibiotics that increase human life expectancy are made from microbes in the soil. The soil biosphere controls the circulation of most major plant nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Soil microbes and plant roots can fix nitrogen, help sequester carbon, and improve climate resilience. Without the active role of micro-organisms, the soil would not be able to provide the nutrients essential for plant growth and development, and therefore would not be able to produce human or animal food.

Each species in the soil has a unique role in maintaining the food chain and the natural balance of nature. Chaos in the food chain will irreversibly affect the lives of many different species, including humans. Soil acts as a reservoir of carbon. It holds about 80% of the total carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. The abundance and diversity of organisms in soils are the main driving forces of soil ecosystems that control soil fertility, nutrient cycling, and greenhouse gas balance. In addition, microbes can help clean up the environment by breaking down waste, converting it into soil, detoxifying the contaminated soil and adapting it to other organisms, including plants, animals and humans.

Soil and human health can not be improved without maintaining soil biodiversity. Soil biodiversity is currently declining as a result of excessive use of pesticides and unbalanced use of fertilizers. Since carbon is a major food source for soil microorganisms, soil organic matter must be improved to maintain soil biological activity. But organic matter is low in Nepalese soil, especially in Dalet, and declining. The decline in soil organic matter in the region was due to a decrease in the use of organic inputs and an imbalance in the use of fertilizers. The reduction of organic carbon in the soil, coupled with the use of heavy machinery, is reducing microbial populations and their activities. While mechanization is essential to increase farm profits and reduce farm drudgery, it has adverse effects on soils, such as compaction, which reduces microbial activity and diversity. As agriculture intensifies, the use of organic inputs is decreasing, while the use of fertilizers and agrochemicals is increasing. This situation poses a great challenge to the maintenance of soil biodiversity.

There is therefore an urgent need to protect soil biodiversity in order to sustainably improve soil health and crop productivity in order to reduce current food insecurity and poverty. Farmers must adopt effective management measures such as rational and balanced use of fertilizers, combined with organic inputs, appropriate irrigation, lime correction of soil acidity, Green Manure and reduced tillage measures; These practices can improve soil organic matter content and protect soil biodiversity. Other soil conservation measures, such as the use of legumes, mulching crops, harvesting crops, crop rotation and agroforestry, can enhance soil bioactivity (micro-organisms and macrofauna) and thus improve soil physical and chemical properties to maintain soil health. . In addition, integrated pest management and inoculation with Rhizobia, mycorrhizae and actinomycetes can directly promote soil biological activity and diversity In recent years, the use of biochar and improved composting has been beneficial in supplementing the role of fertilizers and improving the biological, physical and chemical properties of soils, thereby maintaining soil biodiversity and increasing crop productivity . It is our collective responsibility to recognize the importance of soil biodiversity and its role in improving soil health, crop productivity and human livelihoods. A healthy soil can make the environment healthy, and a healthy environment can make people healthy. Let us preserve the biological activity of the soil by protecting biodiversity so that the next generation can enjoy a healthy life.