The QBS-ar Index: a Sensitive Tool to Assess the Effectiveness of an Agroecological Practice in the Italian Alpine Region

Sustainable soil management aims at safeguarding the natural resource, and accordingly, there is a need to implement soil quality indicators that respond rapidly to management changes, especially in vulnerable environments such as the Alpine region. Soil organic carbon is usually considered the most important indicator to assess soil quality, but the speed of its dynamics does not help us to understand the real effectiveness of agroecological practices. This note shows results of a field study, in which a set of soil quality parameters were analyzed, including the Soil Biological Quality index during 3 years. The Soil Biological Quality index is a rather inexpensive metric index applied mostly in Mediterranean environment. The only parameter showing a highly significant difference between the soil indicators was the Soil Biological Quality index. The Soil Biological Quality index can be a useful tool for monitoring soil quality also in Alpine environment and could be joined with other soil parameters to give a significant response during the application of agroecological practices.