Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure Variant for Rangelands in a Semi-Arid Climate: Development of RangelandVESS

This study addresses the need for reliable field-based tools to assess soil structural quality in semi-arid rangelands, where existing visual methods such as the Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) and its modified version for grasslands (GrassVESS) may be limited by site conditions. The objective was to develop and evaluate a modified visual soil structure assessment method (RangelandVESS) adapted to livestock grazed rangelands in northern Mexico. Soil sampling was conducted in grazed and exclusion zones and soil structure was assessed using VESS, GrassVESS, and RangelandVESS. Thereafter, the scores of each method were compared with soil health indicators and above-ground biomass. Results showed distinctions in soil structural conditions between exclusion and overgrazed areas. RangelandVESS seems to demonstrate greater sensitivity to degradation, particularly in sandy soils, where it identified poorer structural quality compared to the other methods. Significant correlations were obtained between RangelandVESS scores and bulk density, infiltration, and biomass supporting its robustness. In contrast, no significant differences among methods scores were observed in clayey–loamy soils. However, RangelandVESS may provide a more reliable assessment of degradation. Overall, the findings suggest that RangelandVESS is a suitable tool for assessing soil structure in semi-arid rangelands and offers improved capacity to detect grazing induced degradation.