Can your soil’s color predict its health?

New research from Morocco proves that digital color analysis is 96% cheaper than traditional chemical testing for measuring soil organic matter

2026-02-19

(Press-News.org) Determining the health of agricultural soil has traditionally been a slow, messy, and expensive process involving hazardous chemicals. But what if the answer was as simple as the shade of the dirt itself? A groundbreaking study published in Carbon Research reveals that analyzing soil color indices is not only a scientifically sound way to predict Soil Organic Matter (SOM) but also a massive financial win for farmers and laboratories. Led by Dr. Yassine Bouslihim from the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) in Morocco, the study explores the potential of "colorimetric" soil testing in semi-arid agricultural regions. By shifting from traditional chemical-heavy methods to digital color analysis, the research offers a path toward sustainable, widespread soil monitoring that doesn't break the bank.

This work, conducted at the Regional Center for Agronomic Research-Rabat, addresses a critical gap in agricultural science: the economic feasibility of high-tech soil sensors. While scientists have known for years that darker soil often means more carbon, this study provides the hard data needed to convince testing facilities to make the switch.

"Our goal was to move beyond the laboratory and look at the bottom line," says Dr. Yassine Bouslihim. "We found that digital color analysis isn't just a technical alternative; it is an economic revolution. For a busy lab, this method can reduce costs by 96% while eliminating the need for toxic reagents."

The Science of Shades

The research team tested soil samples under both dry and moist conditions, using advanced machine learning algorithms to find the most accurate "recipe" for prediction:

High Accuracy: Using the Random Forest algorithm on dry soils, the team achieved high prediction accuracy, outperforming other complex models. The "Hue" Factor: The study found that hue-based color parameters are the most reliable indicators of organic matter, accounting for up to 47% of the model's predictive power in moist soils. No More Chemicals: Traditional testing, like the Walkley-Black method, produces hazardous waste. The color-based approach is entirely "green," requiring only a digital sensor and a computer. A Financial Game-Changer

The most striking part of the study is the economic analysis. For a soil testing facility processing 5,000 samples per year, the color-based method offers:

96% Cost Reduction: Massive savings on labor, chemicals, and equipment. Rapid Payback: The initial investment in the technology pays for itself in less than four months. Staggering ROI: The five-year return on investment is calculated at a whopping 940%. This framework provides a vital roadmap for developing nations and semi-arid regions to implement frequent, large-scale soil monitoring. By making soil carbon testing affordable and easy, the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) is helping farmers better manage their land, improve crop yields, and participate in global carbon sequestration efforts. As the world looks for more efficient ways to track soil health in the face of climate change, the message from Rabat is clear: the future of soil science is colorful, digital, and highly profitable.

Corresponding Author:

Yassine Bouslihim

National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA), Regional Center for Agronomic Research-Rabat, Rabat, Morocco.

===

Journal reference: Bouslihim, Y., Ennaji, W. & Hilali, A. Predicting soil organic matter from color indices: economic and technical feasibility in semi-arid agricultural soils. Carbon Res. 5, 9 (2026).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s44246-025-00240-6

===

About Carbon Research

The journal Carbon Research is an international multidisciplinary platform for communicating advances in fundamental and applied research on natural and engineered carbonaceous materials that are associated with ecological and environmental functions, energy generation, and global change. It is a fully Open Access (OA) journal and the Article Publishing Charges (APC) are waived until Dec 31, 2025. It is dedicated to serving as an innovative, efficient and professional platform for researchers in the field of carbon functions around the world to deliver findings from this rapidly expanding field of science. The journal is currently indexed by Scopus and Ei Compendex, and as of June 2025, the dynamic CiteScore value is 15.4.

Follow us on Facebook, X, and Bluesky.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Biochar nanomaterials could transform medicine, energy, and climate solutions

2026-02-19

A new scientific review highlights how emerging biochar-based nanomaterials could play a powerful role in tackling global challenges ranging from climate change to healthcare innovation. Researchers report that nanobiochar and biochar nanocomposites, advanced forms of carbon-rich materials derived from biomass, are showing promise across fields including renewable energy storage, sustainable construction, agriculture, and even medicine. Biochar itself is produced by heating plant-based waste such as crop residues or forestry byproducts in low-oxygen conditions. When engineered at the nanoscale or combined ...

Turning waste into power: scientists convert discarded phone batteries and industrial lignin into high-performance sodium battery materials

2026-02-19

Researchers have developed a new method to transform two major waste streams, discarded mobile phone batteries and industrial lignin, into a promising material for next-generation sodium-ion batteries. The study demonstrates how waste recycling can simultaneously reduce environmental pollution and support the transition to sustainable energy storage technologies. Mobile phone batteries are replaced frequently, creating large quantities of electronic waste that contain valuable metals but also pose environmental risks if improperly discarded. At the same time, lignin, a natural polymer generated ...

PhD student maps mysterious upper atmosphere of Uranus for the first time

2026-02-19

A Northumbria University PhD student has led an international team of astronomers in creating the first-ever three-dimensional map of Uranus's upper atmosphere, revealing how the ice giant's unusual magnetic field shapes spectacular auroras high above the planet's clouds. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency), Paola Tiranti and her colleagues observed Uranus for nearly a full rotation, detecting the faint glow from molecules up to 5,000 kilometres ...

Idaho National Laboratory to accelerate nuclear energy deployment with NVIDIA AI through the Genesis Mission

2026-02-19

Prometheus Grand Challenge aims to deploy commercial-scale nuclear reactors in years, not decades. IDAHO FALLS, Idaho —The Idaho National Laboratory and NVIDIA have partnered to advance nuclear energy deployment through artificial intelligence. The collaboration aims to accelerate advanced nuclear reactor deployment and reduce costs. INL and NVIDIA’s collaboration is part of the Genesis Mission, a national initiative to build the world’s most powerful scientific platform to accelerate discovery science, strengthen national security, and drive ...

Blood test could help guide treatment decisions in germ cell tumors

2026-02-19

Can fragments of tumor DNA in the blood predict whether chemotherapy will be effective? Researchers at the Princess Máxima Center investigated this question together with experts from Italy and Slovakia. They focused specifically on young adults with germ cell tumors for whom standard chemotherapy doesn't work well. Blood samples from young adults treated at hospitals in Italy and Slovakia were analyzed before and during chemotherapy. The researchers searched these samples for fragments of tumor DNA circulating in the blood. They identified specific ...

New ‘scimitar-crested’ Spinosaurus species discovered in the central Sahara

2026-02-19

A new paper published in Science describes the discovery of Spinosaurus mirabilis, a new spinosaurid species found in Niger. A 20-person team led by Paul Sereno, PhD, Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, unearthed the find at a remote locale in the central Sahara, adding important new fossil finds to the closing chapter of spinosaurid evolution. Eye-catching anatomy The scimitar-shaped crest of S. mirabilis was so large and unexpected that the paleontologists initially didn’t recognize it for what it was when they plucked it and some jaw fragments from the desert surface in November 2019. Returning with a larger team in 2022 and finding two ...

“Cyborg” pancreatic organoids can monitor the maturation of islet cells

2026-02-19

Qiang Li and colleagues have created “cyborg” pancreatic organoids that combine stretchy miniature electronics with stem cell-derived pancreatic islets, using the implanted electronics to monitor electrical activity related to glucose regulation in maturing α and β cells. Islet α and β cells secrete glucagon and insulin hormones, in response to electrical changes in the cell membrane. The researchers also used the electronics to stimulate the cells to enhance their glucose responsiveness and show how that responsiveness changes as the cells mature, how it is affected by different chemical compounds and circadian ...

Technique to extract concepts from AI models can help steer and monitor model outputs

2026-02-19

AI models have their own internal representations of knowledge or concepts that are often difficult to discern, even as they are critical to the models’ output. For instance, knowing more about a model’s representation of a concept would help explain why an AI model might “hallucinate” information, or why certain prompts can trick it into responses that dodge its built-in safeguards. Daniel Beaglehole and colleagues now introduce a robust method to extract these representations of concepts, which works across several large-scale language, reasoning, and vision AI models. Their technique uses ...

Study clarifies the cancer genome in domestic cats

2026-02-19

Although cancer is a common cause of death in domestic cats, little is known about the range of cancer genes in cat tumors, and how this range might compare with the oncogenome in people. Now, Bailey Francis and colleagues have sequenced cancer genes in 493 samples from 13 different types of feline cancer and matched healthy control tissue, gaining a clearer picture of the cat oncogenome and comparing the genes to known cancer-causing mutations in humans. Under the “One Medicine” approach, ...

Crested Spinosaurus fossil was aquatic, but lived 1,000 kilometers from the Tethys Sea

2026-02-19

A new Spinosaurus species uncovered in northern Niger by Paul Sereno and colleagues appears to have been a wading predator of fish like its close relatives, but it lived as many as 1,000 kilometers inland from the Tethys Sea. The fossil find may represent a third phase of evolution for this group of massive, fish-eating dinosaurs, according to Sereno et al. The new species Spinosaurus mirabilis, uncovered in the central Sahara near Sirig Taghat (“no water, no goat” in Tamasheq, the local Berber language), lived with long-necked dinosaurs in a riparian habitat 100-95 million years ago. Sereno et al. suggest there were ...

Can your soil’s color predict its health?

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: