Abstract
In the region of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), over half of the soils are under cropping. This vast agricultural activity, combined with other anthropological uses, has led to a deterioration of the soil quality and virtual degradation. Therefore, it was deemed to assess the quality of these soils, which was achieved by applying two different methods. Three soils, representative of typical conditions in this community, were sampled and diverse properties were analysed in order to apply two different approaches. The first soil evaluation was carried out by a traditional method developed by FAO using a productivity index, whereas the second method consisted of the application of a new method called SINDI, developed in New Zealand. Both approaches make an evaluation based on a number of indicators that differs in each case. These differences explain why each method ranked the soils studied in different order reaching diverse conclusions on their quality.
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Our gratitude to CICYT for the financial support of the Project: AGL 2002–02294.
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González-Quiñones, V., de la Torre, A., García, M.P. et al. Application of the FAO quantitative and SINDI methods to assess the quality of different soils in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain). Environ Geol 53, 527–531 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0664-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0664-3