Soil is very vital for life as it is medium of plant life which sources of our food and

energy. Hence the soil quality need to be managed wisely so that it can sustain and continuously
support the needs of the plants especially water and nutrients. The soil is healthy if it has a good
chemical, physical and biological properties that can sustain the productivity, maintain
environmental quality, and animal health. Furthermore, healthy soil also referred to a fertile soil
that can provide the plants with sufficient nutrients for the plant growth and development. The
soil quality can be either degraded or improved based on the agronomic practices that are carried
out human includes tillage practices and nutrient management practices.

Tillage practices is an agronomic practices that can degrade the soil structure, soil organic
matter and soil biota. The conventional tillage is the common practice that are carried out in most
agricultural land. This practice usually incorporate the crop residue to the soil by plowing and
leave the soil bare. Conventional tollage will left the soil unprotected as there is no crop residue
cover the soil surface. The soil surface will be exposed to the direct impact of rain that will lead
to the runoff and soil erosion. The ability of the soil to resist soil erosion also will reduce as the
conventional tillage degrade the soil aggregates stability. No tillage system or conservation
tillage is a tillage practices that can help to improve the soil quality. The no-tillage gives better
soil protection as this practices leave the soil surface covered with crop residues. The soil tend to
have higher soil organic matter that favor the soil organism, better soil aggregates and less soil
erosion and runoff. Besides that, the soil will also less subjected to nutrient loss that often caused
by soil erosion, thus sustain the quality of the soil and at the same time protect the surface water
from pollution.

Nutrient management practice is another agronomic practices that can degrade or

improve the soil quality. The addition of organic materials to the soil will help to improve the soil
physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil that favor the crop production. The
practices that add organic matter to the soil includes leaving the crop residues in the fields,
addition of organic fertilizer such as compost as soil amendment, mulching and growing cover
crops. The soil organic matter is a sources of food to the soil microorganism that are very critical
to the soil health as this organism will help in nutrient cycle and improving the soil aggregates

structure. Besides that, SOM act as a binding agents that increase soil aggregates stability,
improves water holding capacity, water infiltration, soil porosity that lead to better soil structure.
However, poor nutrient management practices such as the over application of chemical fertilizer
will deteriorate the soil quality. The over application of fertilizer lead to the soil acidification and
will cause the toxic elements such as aluminum and iron become more soluble in the soil and
available to the plant. The acidification of the soil also will hurt the soil organism as the soil pH
is highly affect their enzyme to carry out their activities.

In conclusion, healthy soil is essential for the production of crops used to feed human and
livestock. However, land cultivation without proper management practices will destroy the soil
quality and sustainability. Conventional practices and poor nutrient management practices that
only focus on producing high yield without concerning the sustainability of the soil will require a
larger cost to improve the soil itself for the next generation. Hence, the land cultivation must be
done in a sustainable way as prevention is better than cure.