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An important motivation for farmers to renew grassland swards (by ploughing and reseeding) is to introduce the most recent grass cultivars that give high yields and high forage quality. However, grassland renewal may affect soil quality negatively due to ploughing. The aims of this study were (1) to compare grass productivity and soil chemical quality of young and old grasslands, and (2) to investigate the relation between soil chemical quality and grass productivity. On clay soil in the north of the Netherlands we measured grass productivity and soil parameters of ‘young’ (5-15 years without grassland renewal) and ‘old’ (>15 years without grassland renewal) grasslands, located as pairs at ten different dairy farms. We selected grasslands with at least 70% desirable grasses (i.e. Lolium perenne and Phleum pratense). We found a lower herbage nitrogen (N) yield in young grassland and no significant difference compared with old grassland in terms of herbage dry matter yield and fertilizer N response. The soil of young grassland contained less soil organic matter (SOM), carbon (C-total) and nitrogen (N-total) compared to the old grassland soil. Grass productivity was positively correlated with SOM, N-total and C-total. The current management practice of renewing grassland after 10 years without considering the botanical composition is counter-productive.

Permanent grassland soils can act as a sink for carbon and may therefore positively contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. We compared young (5-15 years since latest grassland renewal) with old (>15 years since latest grassland renewal) permanent grassland soils in terms of carbon stock, carbon sequestration, drought tolerance and flood resistance. In old grassland soils we found a higher carbon stock (62 Mg C ha-1) than in young grassland soils (51 Mg C ha-1). The carbon sequestration rate tended to be higher (not statistically significant) in young (average 3.0 Mg C ha-1 year-1) than old (1.6 Mg C ha-1 year -1) grassland soils. Regarding potential drought tolerance, we found larger soil moisture and lower soil bulk density in old than in young grassland soils. Old grassland soils were also more resistant to heavy rainfall. We conclude that by extending grassland age on clay soil, farmers can contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation ecosystem services.

Wij, een brede coalitie van boeren, natuurorganisaties, wetenschappers, ontwerpers en bestuurders, pleiten voor een integraal en langjarig uitvoeringsprogramma voor het landelijk gebied (denk aan 20 jaar). Gezonde bodems in een gevarieerd landschap dat rijk is aan biodiversiteit moeten daarin centraal staan. Daarmee moet de basis worden gelegd voor de verdeling van de schaarse ruimte en toekomstbestendige productie van klimaatneutraal en gezond voedsel.

Litter decomposition and nutrient mineralization are crucial in agricultural systems to maintain soil fertility and plant growth. Given that these processes are governed by soil microbial activity, agricultural management that affects soil microbial communities may significantly alter rates of decomposition and N release of the same litter. We hypothesized that organic compared to conventional management enhances litter decomposition and litter N release, and that this effect is stronger for litter of low quality (high C:N ratio).We tested these hypotheses using litter from 4 maize cultivars with varying initial litter quality (different C:N ratios and lignocellulose index). These litters were left to decompose in soil with different management history, yet in the same experimental field site. The field experiment consisted of randomized plots with 11 years of organic or conventional agricultural management (organic vs. mineral fertilization). During the 11 years, in year 3 and 4, two specific organic amendments were applied as soil health treatments (SHT: chitin or compost, and a control without SHT). The maize litter was contained in litter bags, buried in the top 10–15 cm soil and collected after 1, 2 and 3 months. We quantified the litter carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) loss, and soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC), mineral and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) at each sampling time. We also determined the fungal biomass in the decomposing litter after 3 months of decomposition.Litter C loss was higher in soil under organic compared to conventional management, irrespective of litter quality. In contrast, the rate of N release from the litter was determined by initial litter quality (higher N release from low C:N litter) and not by agricultural management. In soil under organic management the concentrations of DOC, mineral N and DON were larger than in conventional managed soil, which may have stimulated microbial activity and therefore, litter decomposition. Fungal b

Developments in soil biology and methods to characterize soil organic carbon have the potential to deliver novel soil quality indicators that can help to identify soil management practices that sustain soil productivity and environmental resilience. This thesis aimed at investigating the suitability of a range of soil biological and biochemical parameters as novel soil quality indicators for agricultural management. The soil parameters, selected through a literature review, comprised different labile organic carbon fractions (hydrophilic dissolved organic carbon (Hy-DOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), hot water extractable carbon (HWEC) and particulate organic matter carbon (POMC), ordered here from the smallest to the largest proportion of the total organic carbon), soil disease suppressiveness measured with a Pythium-Cress bioassay, nematode communities characterized with amplicon sequencing and qPCR, and microbial community level physiological profiling (CLPP) measured with MicroRespTM. We tested the sensitivity of the novel indicators to tillage and organic matter addition in 10 European long-term field experiments, and assessed their relationship with already existing soil quality indicators linked to soil functioning. Lastly, the results of these experimental chapters are interpreted relative to each other and to the broader body of literature on soil quality assessments. Moreover, pros and cons of the novel indicators are discussed, and possibilities and needs for future research are outlined. Reduced tillage increased carbon availability, disease suppressiveness, nematode richness and diversity, the stability and maturity of the food web, and microbial activity and functional diversity. Organic matter addition had a weaker role in sustaining soil quality, possibly due to the different compositions of the organic matter inputs in the long-term field experiments that were sampled. Random forest analysis showed that POXC

Ecosystem services (ES) are the benefits that people obtain from ecosystems. Investigating the environment through an ES framework has gained wide acceptance in the international scientific community and is applied by policymakers to protect biodiversity and safeguard the sustainability of ecosystems. This approach can enhance the ecological and societal relevance of pre‐market/prospective environmental risk assessments (ERAs) of regulated stressors by: (1) informing the derivation of operational protection goals; (2) enabling the integration of environmental and human health risk assessments; (3) facilitating horizontal integration of policies and regulations; (4) leading to more comprehensive and consistent environmental protection; (5) articulating the utility of, and trade‐offs involved in, environmental decisions; and (6) enhancing the transparency of risk assessment results and the decisions based upon them. Realisation of these advantages will require challenges that impede acceptance of an ES approach to be overcome. Particularly, there is concern that, if biodiversity only matters to the extent that it benefits humans, the intrinsic value of nature is ignored. Moreover, our understanding of linkages among ecological components and the processes that ultimately deliver ES is incomplete, valuing ES is complex, and there is no standard ES lexicon and limited familiarity with the approach. To help overcome these challenges, we encourage: (1) further research to establish biodiversity–ES relationships; (2) the development of approaches that (i) quantitatively translate responses to chemical stressors by organisms and groups of organisms to ES delivery across different spatial and temporal scales, (ii) measure cultural ES and ease their integration into ES valuations, and (iii) appropriately value changes in ES delivery so that trade‐offs among different management options can be assessed; (3) the establishment of a standard ES lexicon; and (4) building capacity

Earthworms play key roles in cropping systems and thereby contribute to nutrient cycling, soil organic matter formation and decomposition, soil structure formation and water infiltration. Although a considerable amount of research has focussed on earthworm communities of arable fields, many knowledge gaps remain. This thesis investigated how earthworm communities in arable land are affected by the composition of the surrounding landscape and by the management of arable fields, with particular attention to crop residue management at the field level. The first study consisted of a landscape level field survey focussed on quantifying the relative contribution of three environmental filters, i.e. soil properties, management practices, and composition of the surrounding landscape on earthworm communities of arable fields and adjacent field margins. Furthermore, two experiments were carried out to study the effects of crop residue management on earthworms. One of those took place under controlled conditions in the laboratory, and focussed on the effects of crop residue placement on the performance of earthworm species, each belonging to a different earthworm ecological group, as well as the subsequent effects on soil structure formation. The other experiment consisted of manipulating the placement and amounts of crop residues in arable fields under different tillage intensities, and studying the effects of those manipulations on earthworm communities after introducing an anecic species in those arable fields. The latter ecological group is rarely found in arable fields, and the feasibility for its introductions was also assessed. Generally, the findings demonstrate the relevance of management practices in shaping earthworm communities of arable fields, while no effects of the surrounding landscape were found for the communities inhabiting the intensively managed arable fields. Regarding crop residue management, the results show that crop residue amounts and placement affect

Sampling and analysis or visual examination of soil to assess its status and use potential is widely practiced from plot to national scales. However, the choice of relevant soil attributes and interpretation of measurements are not straightforward, because of the complexity and site-specificity of soils, legacy effects of previous land use, and trade-offs between ecosystem services. Here we review soil quality and related concepts, in terms of definition, assessment approaches, and indicator selection and interpretation. We identify the most frequently used soil quality indicators under agricultural land use. We find that explicit evaluation of soil quality with respect to specific soil threats, soil functions and ecosystem services has rarely been implemented, and few approaches provide clear interpretation schemes of measured indicator values. This limits their adoption by land managers as well as policy. We also consider novel indicators that address currently neglected though important soil properties and processes, and we list the crucial steps in the development of a soil quality assessment procedure that is scientifically sound and supports management and policy decisions that account for the multi-functionality of soil. This requires the involvement of the pertinent actors, stakeholders and end-users to a much larger degree than practiced to date.