SPATIAL VARIABILITY OF CHEMICAL PROPERTIES IN EUTRIC CAMBISOLS

Abstract

The work is focused on the valuation of the impact of relief on the difference values of the chemical parameters of Eutric Cambisols, and to specifying correlation between observed  properties of soils. The soils samples were collected in the autumn 2011 in the central part of Slovakia, on the neovulcanites of Kremnické vrchy Mts. We determined soil pH, the total content of organic carbon, the content of labile carbon,  the content of potentially mineralizable nitrogen, the content of inorganic form of nitrogen, the sum of basic cations, the cation exchange capacity, hydrolytic acidity and base saturation.  The values of soil pH in  the monitored soil type were in the range from 6.3 to 7.2, the content of humus in the range 1,51 to 6.76%, the ratio of labile forms of carbon and nitrogen in the range from 15.53 to 80.92. When we observed the content of nitrate nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen in soil samples we found out that the content of  nitrate nitrogen was 1.5 times (54.5 %) bigger on the slope and 1.1 times (10.5 %) bigger on the plain then the content of ammonium nitrogen.In statistical assessment of the variability of soil chemical parameters regard to selected types of relief (plain, slope) we found out a significant difference between the content of organic carbon
(p = 0.021) and also the content of labile forms of carbon and nitrogen. The values of chemical parameters of soil were not affected only by shapes of relief, but also by higher level of groundwater. Positive relationship was found between the content of organic carbon and labile form of nitrogen in the soil samples (r = 0.747; p < 0.01). We also found a positive correlation between the content of labile forms of carbon and nitrogen (r = 0.600; p < 0.05).