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- Panel 8-1 Soil Controls Productivity, Quality and Safety of Food in Agriculture /Junta Yanai
Panel 8-1 Soil Controls Productivity, Quality and Safety of Food in Agriculture /Junta Yanai
Junta Yanai
Professor, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Japan
Soil quality has a strong influence on the productivity, quality, and safety of food. For example, soil fertility, defined as the ability of soils to supply required amounts of nutrients to crops, influences crop production considerably. Here, soil fertility is mainly connected with the amounts of plant-available nutrients, which are strongly linked with many soil characteristics such as particle size and distribution, clay mineralogy, organic matter content, and soil microbial activities under the geological and climatic conditions of the location. Some examples of the relationship between soil fertility and its controlling factors will be discussed in the case of agricultural soils in Japan. Secondly, soil quality is gaining more and more attention, as it is held to influence the nutritional status or quality of soil-grown food. The idea that soil quality or soil health is related directly to human health will accordingly be discussed. Thirdly, soil quality also significantly influences the impact of soil pollution by heavy metals and radio-nucleides on food safety. For example, micaceous minerals in the soil can absorb radiocesium (RCs) and also release potassium, which competes with Cs at the ion absorbing channels on the root surface. Soils with relatively high amounts of micaceous minerals, therefore, generally have relatively lower transfer rates of RCs from soil to crop. Such control of food safety by soil quality will be discussed. In conclusion, understanding of soil quality is essential for sustainable food production, improvement of food quality, and the maintenance or improvement of food safety.
Keywords: Food safety, radiocesium (RCs), soil fertility, soil health, soil quality
Professor, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Kyoto Prefectural University, Japan
Soil quality has a strong influence on the productivity, quality, and safety of food. For example, soil fertility, defined as the ability of soils to supply required amounts of nutrients to crops, influences crop production considerably. Here, soil fertility is mainly connected with the amounts of plant-available nutrients, which are strongly linked with many soil characteristics such as particle size and distribution, clay mineralogy, organic matter content, and soil microbial activities under the geological and climatic conditions of the location. Some examples of the relationship between soil fertility and its controlling factors will be discussed in the case of agricultural soils in Japan. Secondly, soil quality is gaining more and more attention, as it is held to influence the nutritional status or quality of soil-grown food. The idea that soil quality or soil health is related directly to human health will accordingly be discussed. Thirdly, soil quality also significantly influences the impact of soil pollution by heavy metals and radio-nucleides on food safety. For example, micaceous minerals in the soil can absorb radiocesium (RCs) and also release potassium, which competes with Cs at the ion absorbing channels on the root surface. Soils with relatively high amounts of micaceous minerals, therefore, generally have relatively lower transfer rates of RCs from soil to crop. Such control of food safety by soil quality will be discussed. In conclusion, understanding of soil quality is essential for sustainable food production, improvement of food quality, and the maintenance or improvement of food safety.
Keywords: Food safety, radiocesium (RCs), soil fertility, soil health, soil quality