Abstract
Background, Aims and Scope
Being an integral part of nature, soil affects all main natural resources and is simultaneously affected by them. This is due to soil management practices (agriculture, forestry) and to the leaching and emission of soil substances. Soil affects mainly water resources and the open air. In this work, soil nitrate production as a possible cause for nitrate leaching and nitrogen emission from soil into the air was determined and generalized. CO2 emissions from soil into the air were quantified as well. All data were generalized and evaluated.
Methods
The data were obtained by analyzing samples taken from nine different soils in Slovakia during 3 years.
Results and Discussion
Between 30 and 50 kg of nitrate nitrogen were produced in non-N-fertilized soils during the growing season. Application of fertilizer N yielded 50 to 90 kg N-NO3-. About 111 thousand tons of N-NO3 are produced yearly in all non-N-fertilized agricultural soils in Slovakia. On the average, about 10,061 thousand tons of C-CO2 can be produced in the soil cover during the growing season (about 4.2 tons of C-CO2 per ha).
Recommendation and Outlook
Published data suggest that it is necessary to decrease soil nitrate production and to reduce CO2 emissions from soils. The data also attest to a very high level of external effects of soil, including negative effects accelerated mainly by human activities.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson DV (1995): Decomposition of organic matter and carbon emissions from soils. In: Lal E et al. (eds): Soil and Global Change, Lewis Publisher, Boca Raton, London, Tokyo: 165–175
Bielek P (1976): Posobenie PK hnojiv na dusikaty rezim pod (PK fertilizers influence on soil nitrogen). Dissertation. Soil Fertility Research Institute (ed) Bratislava, 102 pp
Bielek P, Bedrnova L (1980): Vplyv sposobu odberu a upravy podnej vzorky na jej schopnost uvolnovat CO2 do atmosfery (Soil pre-treatment influence on CO2 release processes). Polnohospodarstvo 26, 609–615
Bielek P (1980): Vplyv sposobu a upravy podnej vzorky na jej schopnost akumulovat nitraty (Soil pre-treatment influence on nitrification processes). Polnohospodarstvo (Agriculture) 26, 315–323
Bielek P (1997): Nitrogen transformations to carbon mineralization in soil. In: Ando et al., Plants Nutrition — For Sustainable Food Production and Environment. Kluwer Acad. Publish. Japan, 763–764
Bielek P (1998): Dusik v polnohospodarskych podach Slovenska (Nitrogen in soils of Slovakia), Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, Edition Centre, Bratislava, 255 pp
Buyanovsky GA, Wagner GH, Gantzer CJ (1986): Soil respiration in a winter wheat ecosystem. Soil Sci Soc Am J, 350, 338–344
Burt TP, Heathwaite AL, Trudgill ST (1996): Nitrate: Processes, Patterns and Management, J. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, 444 pp
Choudhary MA, Akramkhanov A, Saggar S (2002): Nitrous oxide emissions from a New Zealand cropped soil: Tillage effects, spatial and seasonal variability. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 1931, 1–11
Cole CV, Burke IC, Parton WJ, Schimel DS, Ogima DS, Stewart JWB (1989): Analysis of historical changes in soil fertility and organic matter level of the North American Great Plains. In: Proc Soils and Crop Workshop. Univ. Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, p 1–10
De Jong E (1981): Soil aeration as affected by slope position and negative cover. Soil Sci 131, 34–43
Dzatko M, Hrasko J, Juran C, Linkes V (1976): Metodika zatriedo-vania polnohospodarskych pod SSR do bonitnych tried. Project Re port (Methods of soil productivity evaluation in Slovakia), Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute Bratislava
Eve MD, Sperow K, Howerton K, Paustian K, Follett RF (2001): A national inventory of changes in soil carbon from National Resources Inventory data. In: Lal R, Kimble JM, Follett RF, Steward BA (eds) Assessment Methods for Soil Carbon, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, pp 593–610
Franzluebbers AJ (1999): Potential C and N mineralization and microbial biomass from intact and increasingly disturbed soils of varying texture. Soil Biol Biochem 31, 1083–1090
Glinski J, Stepniewski W (1985): Soil aeration and its role for plants. CRC Press Inc. Boca Raton, FL
Goulding K (2000): Nitrate leaching from arable and horticultural land. Soil Use and Management 16, 145–151
Granli T and Bockman OCH (1994): Nitrous oxide from agriculture. Norwegian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 12, 128 pp
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines for National Greehouse Gas Inventories. Chapter 4. Agriculture. Nitrous oxide from agricultural soils and manure management. OECD Paris, France 1997
Klinda J, Lieskovska Z (1997): Sprava o stave zivotneho prostredia Slovenskej republiky (Environment Report of Slovakia). Ministry of Environment, 9–18
Mosier AR (1994): Nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils. Fert Res 38, 191–200
Mosier AR (1999): Exchange of gaseous nitrogen compounds between agricultural systems and the atmosphere. 10th Nitrogen Workshop, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University Copenhagen, Denmark, Vol 1, II-1
Paustian K, Six J, Elliott ET, Hunt HW (2000): Management options for reducing CO2 emissions from agricultural soils. Biogeochemistry 48, 147–163
Reicosky DC, Lindstrom MJ (1995): Impact of fall tillage on shortterm carbon dioxide flux. In: Lal R et al. (eds): Soils and Global Change, 177–187
Richter J (1974): A comparative study of soil gas regime in a soil tillage experiment with different soils. I. Field measurements. Z Pflanzenernähr Bodenkd 137, 135–147
Robert M (2001): Soil carbon sequestration for improved land management, FAO Rome, 57 pp
Rochette P, Desjardins RL, Pattey E (1991): Spatial and temporal variability of soil respiration in agricultural fields. Can J Soil Sci 71, 189–196
Sauerbeck DR (2001): CO2 emissions and C sequestration by agriculture — Perspectives and limitations. Nutrients Cycling in Agroeco-systems 60, 253–266
Stenberg M, Aronson H, Linden B, Rydberg T, Gustafson A (1999): Soil mineral nitrogen and nitrate losses in soil tillage systems combined with catch crop. Soil and Tillage Research 50, 115–125
World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) (1998). ISRIC Wageningen, 88 pp
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bielek, P. External impacts of soils as considered with the example of slovakia. J Soils & Sediments 4, 129–132 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02991057
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02991057