Porosity

Soil porosity pertains to the interstitial voids existing between soil particles and aggregates, serving as conduits through which water and air can move. These voids create essential habitats for the proliferation of roots and microorganisms (Nimmo, 2004; Osman, 2013). Porosity exerts significant influence over a multitude of critical soil processes, which depend on pore dimensions, shapes, and continuity (Pagliai et al., 2004).

Management practices can alter the soil’s pore structure, leading to modifications in its physical attributes. These transformations, in turn, can have significant ramifications for long-term sustainability and soil functionality (Bodner et al., 2013; de Andrade Bonetti et al., 2017; de Oliveira et al., 2021). Total porosity has indirect links with several critical ecosystem functions, including but not limited to, biomass production, filtration, buffering, transformation of substances within the soil matrix, safeguarding the genetic diversity within the soil’s gene pool, maintenance of soil structural integrity and the regulation of soil hydrological processes (Guerra et al., 2021).

The number, activity and biodiversity of micro-organisms and earthworms are also greatest in well aerated soils and they are able to decompose and cycle organic matter and nutrients more efficiently (Soil Testing Methods Global Soil Doctors Programme, FAO).