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Assessment of the quality of the Harran Plain soils under long-term cultivation

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Abstract

Soil quality refers to the ability of soils to perform their functions well. The soils of the Harran Plain, Turkey, have been put into intensive crop production with the introduction of an irrigation scheme and become increasingly degraded due to unsustainable management and cropping systems that resulted in the loss of production potential. The goal of this study was to quantify the quality of common soil series in the Plain using soil quality indexes (SQI) and to compare SQIs of two long-term crop rotations, cotton and wheat-corn cultivation, and different soil types. Over 400 samples were collected at a 0- to 30-cm depth and analyzed for 31 soil variables. The best representative soil quality variables forming a minimum data set (MDS) were selected using principal component analysis (PCA), and soil quality scores were obtained using both linear and non-linear scoring functions. The MDS included three physical (hydraulic conductivity, bulk density, and plant available water content), two biological (soil organic matter and catalase enzyme activity), and nine chemical soil quality indicators (CEC, pH, plant available Cu and Fe, exchangeable Na and K, soluble Ca, Mg, and Na). Because of the low level of SOM, soil qualities were overall low with indexes obtained using two scoring functions ranging from 38.0/100 to 48.7/100. Correlations between SQI obtained using two approaches (linear vs. non-linear; r > 0.61) and using two data sets (all data vs. MDS; r > 0.79) were high. Non-linear scoring functions were more sensitive to management impacts. ANOVA models testing the individual impacts of soil types and crop management on soil quality were statistically different (p < 0.01), but the models including interactions were not. Overall, the fields under cotton cultivation were generally associated with higher clay contents and had the lowest SQIs as a result of intensive cultivation.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) (Project No:111O706). Lindsay Fennell at Cornell University is acknowledged for reviewing and editing the former version of the manuscript. Finally, we would like to thank the editors for their valuable contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agriculture Faculty, Department of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Harran University, Şanlıurfa, Turkey

    Ali Volkan Bilgili

  2. Faculty of Arts and Science, Department of Biology, Harran University, Şanlıurfa, Turkey

    Çiğdem Küçük

  3. Department of Crop and Soil Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Harold M. Van Es

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  1. Ali Volkan Bilgili
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  2. Çiğdem Küçük
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  3. Harold M. Van Es
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Correspondence to Ali Volkan Bilgili.

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Bilgili, A.V., Küçük, Ç. & Van Es, H.M. Assessment of the quality of the Harran Plain soils under long-term cultivation. Environ Monit Assess 189, 460 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6177-y

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