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MONITORING OF SOIL HEALTH AND QUALITY WITHIN AN ENTERPRISE USING CONVECTIONAL FARMING SYSTEM

Jakub Elbl

Abstract

The paper deals with the monitoring of selected indicators of soil health and quality in order to assess the impact of farm using conventional farming on arable land. The main objective of the work was to find suitable indicators of the state of the soil environment, and to set the monitoring of these indicators to obtain information usable for the agronomics of the monitored enterprises when deciding on interventions on land. Every responsible farmer tries to care best for his land because only good and healthy land is a guarantee of future profitable harvests. This is also the case of the Spearhead International Ltd company, which is active in agricultural primary production in the UK, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania at almost 80,000 ha. In the Czech Republic, there are: Eurofarms Jihlava, Eurofarms Agro-B, Salix Morava, Agrosumak, Agro-druzstvo Morava, Rolana. In 2016, monitoring of the following indicators was started: the total C and N content in soil, microbial C (Cmic), oxidizable C (Cox) and humus, and the ratio of humin (HA) and fulvic (FA) acid and more. All soil samples are taken annually in the first half of April before any application of fertilizers or other amending substances, taking into account weather. The same sampling sites were used every year. For the period 2016-2017, the measured values of the individual indicators point to a slightly atypical situation in a conventional farm with a lower intensity of a livestock production. The humus content of the soil was slightly above the average of 3.5 % indicating a good organic matter content (SOM). The relatively high amount of SOM indicates a higher Ctot content (> 1.80 %). On the other hand, the HA and FA ratio was about 0.85 and the average C:N 9.1. Therefore, it can be stated that the selected agronomic model (cultivation of inter-crops, leaving post-harvest residues, minimization of soil processing) used on the monitored land has a positive effect on soil SOM content, but cannot significantly affect its quality. This requires the application of high-quality organic fertilizers, which unfortunately are not available to the required extent. Improvements can be brought by new farming principles, for instance Corg in the form of sugar molasses or humic substances, and increased use of higher quality leguminous crops (Leguminosae).

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2019/3.2/s13.042

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