Vol. 12, Issue 9 (2023)

Soil health is critical for sustainable agricultural development, and with increasing social awareness about environmentally friendly agricultural development, soil health demands thorough monitoring. Soil health refers to a soil's ability to perform within ecological boundaries in order to sustain productivity, preserve environmental quality, and promote plant and animal health. Soil health is assessed using physical, chemical, and biological markers; biological indicators include microorganisms, protozoa, and metazoa. Nematodes exhibit a high degree of prevalence among the metazoan kingdom, and their response to contaminants and environmental disruption exhibits considerable variability. Soil nematode populations serve as significant indicators of soil health, as their abundance, diversity, community structure, and metabolic footprint exhibit substantial associations with the soil environment. The dimensions, intricacy, and arrangement of a civilization are indicative of the soil's state. Both free-living and plant-parasitic nematodes serve as valuable ecological indicators, playing significant roles in nutrient cycling and functioning as primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers within food webs. The manipulation of tillage practices, cropping systems, and fertilization strategies can exert a substantial influence on soil nematodes, leading to alterations in the composition and dynamics of soil nematode communities in response to soil perturbations. Given that certain free-living nematodes possess the ability to serve as biological models for investigating soil conditions inside laboratory settings, there is an increasing utilization of soil nematodes as biological indicators for assessing soil health.