Soil Quality in Fruit Tree Plantations: Indicators, Assessment Methods, and Land Use Implications

Soil quality is a key concept essential to sustainable land use, agricultural productivity, and environmental protection. It refers to the soil’s ability to perform its functions within the limits of a natural ecosystem, encompassing its physical, chemical, and biological properties to sustain productivity, preserve environmental integrity, and support human and animal health. However, soil degradation driven by land use change, deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, and climate change has increasingly compromised soil quality worldwide. This emphasizes the urgent need for systematic assessment tools. Soil quality indicators, encompassing physical, chemical, and biological properties, have been developed to capture changes in soil function. These indicators are often integrated into soil quality indices (SQIs), such as the additive soil quality index, to simplify and quantify the soil’s overall health. Comparative and dynamic assessments using reference conditions and time-series data are crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of land management strategies. Effective soil resource management must balance productivity with environmental protection, particularly in regions with limited resources and vulnerable ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, where forest-to-agriculture conversion is widespread, the soil quality implications of fruit tree plantations remain largely unexamined. This review proposes an integrated conceptual framework for assessing soil quality in fruit tree plantations by consolidating indicators across physical, chemical, and biological domains; contextualizes their use in orchard-based systems; and synthesizes current assessment approaches to support sustainable land management. Such efforts can inform sustainable management practices and policy development. This review underscores the significance of soil quality assessment and the role of SQIs in achieving long-term ecological sustainability, food security, and soil resource conservation.