Soil’s physical and nutritional balance is essential for establishing a healthy microbiome

Abstract The planet has experienced enormous damage in agricultural soils due to overuse of chemical inputs over 100 years. There is now an intensive effort to develop and employ biological/ecological farming practices that use bioproducts such as biofertilizers and biopesticides to remediate these damaged soils, and to prevent further damage to those still functioning at their full potential. The challenge that many agriculturists face is to define what a healthy soil looks like. Crop producers face difficulty deciding between chemical (for-profit) or biological (for-conservation) farming practices. The selection of either avenue can create imbalances in the soil matrix that impact crop productivity. The development of strategies that include combinations of chemical and biological practices has the major advantage of increasing environmental sustainability while maintaining high crop outputs. Here, we review the roles of physicochemical soil properties in creating a stable and functional microbiome to sustain soil health and crop production. Note: The key indicator taxa of different soil physicochemical conditions and crop production practices are provided at the end of this chapter as a chapter summary.