Soil Quality Test Kit

The Soil Quality Test Kit developed in the United States contains materials for many soil quality indicators used in the field. The kits are commercially available.

Visit the NRCS Soil Quality web site for more information and to download a guide for the Soil Quality Test Kit. The guide provides explanations of the tests, interpretations of results, calculation instructions, and instructions for making many of the materials found in the commercial kit. The web site also offers a Soil Quality Test Kit fact sheet and Excel spreadsheet for making indicator calculations.

The Test Kit was created by research scientists and results are very similar to laboratory measures when performed according to instructions (Liebig et al, 1996; Sarrantonio et al, 1996).

Use the following indicator tests to evaluate soil function in humid regions:

Indicator	Productivity	Water	Habitat	Filtering
Respiration	X		X
Infiltration	X	X		X
Bulk density	X	X
Electrical conductivity				X
pH	X		X	X
Nitrate leaching				X
Aggregates	X	X	X	X
Slaking	X	X
Earthworms	X		X	X
Water-filled pore space		X
Water nitrates			X	X
Water electrical conductivity			X

Use the following indicator tests to evaluate soil function in arid regions:

Indicator	Productivity	Water	Habitat	Filtering
Respiration	X		X
Infiltration	X	X		X
Bulk density	X	X
Electrical conductivity	X	X	X
pH			X	X
Nitrate leaching				X
Aggregates	X	X	X	X
Slaking	X	X
Earthworms	X		X	X
Water-filled pore space		X
Water nitrates			X	X
Water electrical conductivity	X		X

Liebig, M.A., J.W. Doran, and J.C. Gardner. 1996. Evaluation of a field test kit for measuring selected soil quality indicators. Agronomy Journal 88:683-686.

Sarrantonio, M., J.W. Doran, M.A. Liebig, and J.J. Halvorson. 1996. On-Farm Assessment of Soil Quality and Health. In: Doran, J.W. and A.J. Jones, eds. Methods for Assessing Soil Quality. SSSA Spec. Pub. 49. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI.