engleski

Soil Quality Index in relation to trace metal availability under different land uses

Intensive agriculture throughout a long period is likely to cause soil degradation. Therefore, monitoring of soil quality in agricultural regions is essential for food quality and food safety. The present study investigates potential soil degradation by assessing soil quality based on trace element solubility and other major soil properties. Although various methods are currently used to determine overall soil quality, in the present study we used a statistical approach by principal component analysis to determine soil indicators, assigned them weights and scores and combined them into soil quality index (SQI). Out of 19 soil properties tested, only 10 showed significant differences between land uses. Out of these 10, 4 soil properties i.e. pH, SOC, BD and AL-P, were chosen as indicators of soil quality. We found no statistical differences in SQI between land uses, indicating that agriculture practices did not cause any soil degradation. However, we observed differences in single soil properties such as SOC and BD, suggesting degradation of these soil properties due to agriculture practices. Trace metal availability and solubility showed no significant correlation with overall SQI, implying that SQI, determined by this approach is not a good indicator of trace metal availability and solubility.

agriculture ; forest ; trace metals ; soil

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