Understanding soil quality is important to identify sustainable agricultural management strategies and practices.  The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the most sensitive indicators for evaluating the impact of various soil management practices, and (2) to compare soil quality indicators using the difference in water holding capacity, aggregation, degree of compaction and particulate organic matter stratification ratio.  Soil samples were collected from pasture, conventional tillage and no-tillage practices in western Kentucky.  Soil physical, chemical and biological properties were analyzed from the depth increments of 0-7.5 cm and 7.5 to 15 cm.  The results showed that the stratification ratio of particulate organic matter could be used as a sensitive indicator to identify land management practices that improve soil structure and water holding capacity of soil.

Key words:  Kentucky, Particulate Organic Matter, Soil Quality, Tillage