Basic properties of agricultural black soils in Slovakia using the INBS criteria

Abstract

Distribution of black soils in Slovakia using the International Network of Black Soils (INBS) is evaluated in this paper. Numerous soil profiles (17,620 soil profiles from the complex soil survey of agricultural land and 318 monitoring sites in Slovakia) have been reviewed for their evaluation. According to the INBS criteria, the following parameters were evaluated: thick layer of humus, soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil organic matter (SOM) as well as a base saturation. In addition, some qualitative parameters of dark-coloured soils have been also evaluated (i.e. total nitrogen content – Ntot, C/N ratio, CHA/CFA ratio and colour quotient Q46). On the basis of obtained results there was determined that the area of black soils, according to the INBS criteria, represents 93,654.63 ha which constitutes 19.7% of all black soils mapped according to land and ecological evaluation units and 3.92% of total agricultural soils in Slovakia. According to the INBS criteria, black soils are characterised by average thick humus layer of 57 cm and SOC content of 2.66% as well as 4.58% of SOM with high base saturation (96.65%).