Visual soil structure quality assessment 

This publication has just been added to the AHRF Soil Information Gateway, courtesy of SAC and the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences.

Soil structure affects root penetration, water availability to plants and soil aeration. This simple, quick test assesses soil structure based on the appearance and feel of a block of soil dug out with a spade.
The scale of the test ranges from Sq1, good structure, to Sq5, poor structure.

Visual soil structure quality assessment   (653kb)