Health and Characteristics of Australian Apple Growing Soils

Table 2

Indicators and classification of soil “health.”

	Indicators	Classification					Reference
		Very high	High (good)	Medium	Low (poor)	Very low
Chemical	pHh20			6.5−5.5			Jonkers and Hoestra [61]
	EC1:5	>4.0−1.15	2.0−0.58	0.29–1.0	0.5−0.15	0–0.25	Hardie and Doyle [62]
	CEC cmol (+) kg^−1	>40	40−25	25−12	12−6	<6	Hazelton and Murphy [51]; Metson [63]
	ESP %		>15	6–14		<6	Northcote and Skene [64]
	OC %	>3	3−1.8	1.8−1	1−0.6	<0.6	Emerson [65]; Charman and Roper [66]; Hazelton and Murphy [51]
	Exe. Al^+3%		>0.4		>0.4		Voiculescu et al. [67]
Physical	PAWC mm (0–60 cm)		>120	60–120	<60		Hazelton and Murphy [51]; McIntyre [68]
	PAWC %		>20	20−10	<10		Hazelton and Murphy [51]; McIntyre [68]
	AC %		>10		<10		Hazelton and Murphy [51]; Cass [69]
	Ksat mm/hr	<120	120−60	60−20	20−10	<10	Hazelton and Murphy [51]; Geeves et al. [70]
	BD g/cm^3	>1.9	1.9−1.6	1.6−1.3	1.3−1.0	<1	Hazelton and Murphy [51]
	Macro %		5		4		Reynolds et al. [1]
	value	>0.05	0.05−0.035		0.035−0.02	<0.02	Reynolds et al. [1]

pH_h20: acidity-alkalinity, EC_1:5: electrical conductivity measured as a 1 : 5 solution, CEC: cation exchange capacity, ESP: exchangeable sodium percent, OC: organic carbon, EXE.AL⁺³: exchangeable aluminium, PAWC: plant available water content, AC: air capacity, K_sat: saturated hydraulic conductivity, BD: bulk density, Macro: macroporosity >300 μm, and value: soil structure parameter.