engleski

Land use in Zagreb altered soil quality properties

Land use changes can have negative or positive effects on soil quality. Therefore, soil management impacts should be carefully evaluated, especially in urban areas. The study objective was to assess the effect of long‐term Land use and soil management practices by evaluating selected soil properties: water holding capacity (WHC), bulk density (BD), air- filled porosity (AFP), aggregate stability (AS), water infiltration (KFS) and soil CO2 emissions in urban and peri-urban soils in Zagreb (Croatia). Soil samples (10 per treatment, 40 in total) were collected at depth 0 - 10 cm within an intensively tilled cropland (cropland) and vineyard, natural forest (forest) and organic grass covered orchard (orchard). Land-use effects were significantly (p < 0.05) pronounced at all studied soil properties. The assessment showed substantial compaction (higher BD, lower AFC) and soil degradation (lower AS and KFS) in cropland and vineyard soils compared to forest and orchard soils following long term period of cultivation. Soil BD was significantly higher at cropland (1.50 g cm-3), while forest show significantly lower BD (1.02 g cm-3) in addition to other treatments. Water infiltration is significantly higher at forest soils (377.1 mm h-1) in addition to vineyard (124.1 mm h-1) and cropland (71.0 mm h-1) soils. In addition to highest CO2 emissions were determined at cropland (269.5 kg ha-1 day-1) and vineyard (209.4 kg ha-1 day-1) soils, while lowest at forest soils (110.8 kg ha-1 day-1). Tillage, pesticides, and fertilizer applications were presumably the reasons for altered soil quality properties. Overall, we conclude that long term cultivation and use of agrochemicals has caused soil quality to decline to a point that threatens the sustainability of the investigated soils.

soil management ; land degradation ; water infiltration ; aggregate stability ; soil compaction

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