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Assessment of Environmental Susceptibility/Vulnerability of Soils
62-74Views:84Soils represent a considerable part of the natural resources of Hungary. Consequently, rational land use and proper soil management – to guarantee normal soil functions – are important elements of sustainable (agricultural) development, having special importance both in the national economy and in environment protection.
The main soil functions in the biosphere are as follows: conditionally renewable natural resource; reactor, transformer and integrator of the combined influences of other natural resources (solar radiation, atmosphere, surface and subsurface waters, biological resources), place of „sphere-interactions”; medium for biomass production, primary food-source of the biosphere; storage of heat, water and plant nutrients; natural filter and detoxication system, which may prevent the deeper geological formations and the subsurface waters from various pollutants; high capacity buffer medium, which may prevent or moderate the unfavourable consequences of various environmental stresses; significant gene-reservoir, an important element of biodiversity.
Society utilizes these functions in different ways (rate, method, efficiency) throughout history, depending on the given natural conditions and socio-economic circumstances. In many cases the character of the particular functions was not properly taken into consideration during the utilization of soil resources, and the misguided management resulted in their over-exploitation, decreasing efficiency of one or more soil functions, and – over a certain limit – serious environmental deterioration.
Soil resources are threatened by the following environmental stresses:
– soil degradation processes;
– extreme moisture regime;
– nutrient stresses (deficiency or toxicity);
– environmental pollution.
Environmental stresses caused by natural factors or human activities represent an increasing ecological threat to the biosphere, as well as a socio-economic risk for sustainable development, including rational land use and soil management.
The stresses are caused by the integrated impacts of various soil properties, which are the results of soil processes (mass and energy regimes, abiotic and biotic transport and transformation and their interactions) under the combined influences of soil forming factors. Consequently, the control of soil processes is a great challenge and the main task of soil science and soil management in sustainable development.
The efficient control of these processes necessitates the following consecutive steps:
• registration of facts and consequences (information on land and soil characteristics, land use, cropping pattern, applied agrotechnics, yields, with their spatial and temporal variability);
• evaluation of potential reasons (definition and quantification of soil processes, analysis of influencing factors and their mechanisms);
• assessment of the theoretical, real, rational and economic possibilities for the control of soil processes (including their risk-assessment and impact analysis);
• elaboration of efficient technologies for the „best” control alternatives (best management practice).
Scientifically based planning and implementation of sustainable land use and rational soil management to ensure desirable soil functions, without any undesirable environmental side-effects, require adequate soil information. In the last years such data were organized into a computer-based GIS soil database in Hungary, giving opportunities for the quantification, analysis, modelling and forecasting of the studied environmental stresses and for the efficient and scientifically based prevention, elimination or reduction of environmental stresses and their unfavourable ecological and economical consequences.
Special attention was paid to the assessment of various soil degradation processes, as: (1) soil erosion by water or wind; (2) soil acidification; (3) salinization and/or alkalization; (4) physical degradation (structure destruction, compaction); (5) extreme moisture regime: drought sensitivity and waterlogging hazard; (6) biological degradation; (7) unfavourable changes in the plant nutrient regime; (8) decrease of natural buffering capacity, (9) soil (and water) pollution.
The actions against undesirable environmental stresses and their unfavourable consequences are important elements of sustainable, efficient, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound crop production and agricultural development. These are joint tasks of the state, decision makers on various levels, the land owners, the land users and – to a certain extent – of each member of the society. -
Role of living bacteria and other amendment in early development of maize
53-56Views:113Different bacteria and wood ash, as a possible micro-nutrient, and liming material, was examined in our experiment on the early growth of corn seedlings.
The development of renewing energy resources includes the use of energy grasses and energy forests. The intensive land use in forestry and in agriculture may cause the acidification of soils due to the harvest, or leaching of cations. To maintain the sustainability of soils necessary to maintain it’s the buffer capacity, and pH. Beside the lime the wood ash can is one of the most effective sources to provide the sustainability of intensive land use. The soil born micro organisms play a significant role in the maintenance of soil quality. The bio fertilizer, that contains soil originated bacteria (Azotobacter, and Bacillus sp.), was used in the experiments. The plants release several organic acids by their roots lowering the soil pH, and make more available the sparingly soluble minerals. The amounts of released organic matter depend on stress intensity, as the high pH is. The soil life has a significant role to keep the soil conditions on sustainable level, since there are several similarities in nutrient uptake mechanism between the bacteria and higher plants. Advantageous effects of bio-fertilizer were observed in our experiments.
We came to the conclusion that the use of wood ash is recommended instead of lime for the improvement of acidic soils, on the evidence of its pH increasing effect. The wood ash contains several micronutrients in an optimum composition for forestry and agricultural plants. The solubility of heavy metals is very low; therefore there is no risk to use the wood ash in the agriculture and in the horticulture by our experiments. The retardation of growth at higher ash doses can be explained by the modification effect to the soil pH, as far as the original soil pH was pH 6.8, and when ash was given to the soil, the pH increases to 7.8 pH, that is unfavourable for the uptake of most nutrients.
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The influence of fertilization on the soil characteristics of a calcareous chernozem in a long term experiment
47-52Views:75In the long term fertilization experiment of the University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economic Science(CAAEC) (Debrecen Látókép), the effects of a 25-year-long fertilization were examined in terms of some chemical and microbiological properties of soil. With the growing doses of fertilizers, the available nutrient content of soil increased. At the same time the pH significantly decreased, while the hidden acidity increased. Moreover, the ratio between the soil bacteria and microscopic fungi, and the occurrence of microbes also changed. The number of sensitive physiological bacteria groups decreased dramatically. These changes indicate the reactions of living organisms; they correspond to the „resistance stage” of stress effects, but in the case of nitrifying bacteria, they reach the „exhaustion stage”.
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Investigations on Mud on Heavy Metal Contaminated Flood-Plain of Tisza
96-101Views:91At the beginning of the year 2000 subsequently to a mine accident high heavy metal content mud entered the catchment area of the Tisza and was transported through the whole Hungarian section of the river. The majority of the heavy metals had been bounded to the floating sediment that was deposited on the flood-plain soil during flood forming a new, 5-10 cm thick layer. In the mud samples collected after the flood there was a clearly visible dark grey layer with significantly higher heavy metal content that was formed by the pollution wave and it was sorruonded by a light layer. The upper layer of flood-plain soils are formed from this mud layer during the soil development process, so the amount of Lakanen-Erviö soluble heavy metals that correlate with bioavailable heavy metal content was examined as well. In this case only the lead content was significantly higher in the dark layer.
New mud samples were collected after the 2001 flood. Separate layers could not have been identified, their colour was similar to those of the previous year’s light layers’. Comparing to this light layer the total Zn and Lakanen-Erivö soluble metal content was significantly lower in the mud samples of the year 2001. While the proportions of total and Lakanen-Erviö soluble metal concentrations were equal in both of the layers regarding the elements, these ratios have significantly changed next year regarding Pb and Zn: the amount of Lakanen-Erviö soluble metals considerably decreased.
As a result of sequential extraction the heavy metal content was rather low in the water soluble and exchangeable and NaOH-soluble fractions, so heavy metals found in the mud could be released in greater amount only in case of a heavy acidification. -
The impact of various grape stock cultivars on the As, Cu, Co and Zn content of the grape berry (must, seed)
39-44Views:133Scientific research from the last decades showed that the inappropriate industrial and agricultural production caused an abnormal increase of the potentially toxic elements in the soil. Unfortunately the acidification of the soil is an increasing problem in Hungary. According to Várallyay et al. (2008) 13% of the Hungarian soils are highly acid. Accumulation of toxic elements differs in the genetically diverse plant species. The root of the plant constitutes a filter so that the rootstock is also kind of a filter system, which may prevent that the scion part (such as berry) accumulate high levels of various potentially toxic elements from the soil. The aim of research was to determine how different grape rootstocks influence the As, Co, Cu and Zn content of the musts and seeds. Thus, specifying which of the grape rootstocks takes up the lowest level of these 4 elements (As, Co, Cu and Zn), and accumulates in berries, so could reduce the potentially toxic element load of the grape berries. The grape rootstock collection of the University of Debrecen was set up in 2003 in 3x1 m spacing on immune sandy soil. Grafting of ‘Cserszegi fűszeres’ was started in 2010. We could evaluate yields harvested from 12 rootstock varieties of the experiment in October 2011. We obtained valuable differences in the arsenic, copper, cobalt and zinc concentrations of musts and seeds of ‘Cserszegi fűszeres’ grafted into different rootstocks. The results obtained from the 2011 harvest support the statement that the choice of rootstock might be an important factor to increase food safety. The differences in concentration of the four elements observed in case of the rootstock may have been caused on one hand by the rootstock effect, and on the other hand, the vintage effect has a very significant impact on the vines element uptake. Several years of experimental results will be needed to answer these questions.