CARBIOSOL: Biological indicators of soil quality and organic carbon in grasslands and croplands in Wallonia, Belgium

The protection of agricultural soil quality is critical to environmental sustainability
and requires relevant indicators. Total soil organic carbon (SOC) is of importance for soil
quality but its slow dynamic and inherent variability do not allow early detection of changes.
The project CARBIOSOL provides a data set from agricultural soils in Wallonia (Southern
Belgium), of total SOC, SOC fractions and biological indicators, selected for their relevance as
indicators of soil quality. Two land uses (sampled in 2013), five agricultural regions (2015), seasonal
variability in croplands (2016) and four management types (2017) were studied. Soil
organic carbon content (total, stable fine fraction <20 lm, labile coarse fraction >20 lm), cold
and hot water extractable carbon and nitrogen contents, total nitrogen, pHKCl, pHH2O, potential
respiration, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, net nitrogen mineralization, metabolic
potential of soil bacteria, earthworm density and biomass, and two ecophysiological quotients
(metabolic and microbial quotient) were measured for a total of 415 samples. The present data
set provides an important contribution for establishing a reference system of soil quality in
Wallonia and eventually for large-scale studies through its integration into a global database.
Moreover, the present data set could be used to support the interpretation of measurements of
fractions of SOC and biological indicators by soil analyses laboratories, which will be useful
for farmers and decision makers to evaluate the effect of different management practices. Information
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