We reviewed the literature on soil health definition, indicators and assessment frameworks, highlighting sensing technologies' significant potential to improve current time-consuming and costly assessment methods. We proposed a soil health assessment framework from an ecological perspective free from human bias, that leverages proximal sensing, remote sensing, machine learning, and sensor data fusion to enable objective, rapid, cost-effective, scalable, and integrative assessments.

This review examines the use of portable X-ray fluorescence (PXRF) technology to detect harmful metals in urban soils. PXRF provides a fast, cost-effective method for analyzing contaminated soils, essential for safe urban agriculture. The review highlights PXRF's accuracy and limitations, stressing the need for proper calibration and sample preparation. These findings will help inform future efforts to enhance soil health and environmental safety in urban areas.

Despite massive use, the impact of storage on soil microbial parameters has been assessed in a very scattered way. I analysed 73 research articles dealing with the impact of storage practices on various soil microbial parameters. The results show significant effects of all storage practices on soil microbial parameters in a vast majority of cases. Storage practices should be carefully selected according to conditions that prevail in the native soil environment and to microbial parameters.