Soil and Water Research, 2019 (vol. 14), issue 3

Effect of land use on soil chemical properties after 190 years of forest to agricultural land conversionOriginal Paper

Kateřina Zajícová, Tomáš Chuman

Soil & Water Res., 2019, 14(3):121-131 | DOI: 10.17221/5/2018-SWR  

Land use changes have a significant impact on soil properties and in some cases they are considered to be among the main threats to soil quality. The present study focuses on the relationship between soil chemistry and land use in a karstic region in Romania, where forests were converted to agricultural land 190 years ago by Czech settlers in the Banat Region. Out of several villages founded by the Czech settlers the study was done around the village of Sfinta Elena. The uniqueness of this study is that traditional agricultural practices using low intensity farming (fallow period, organic fertilizers) have been used continuously since the village was...

Salt leaching of heavy coastal saline silty soil by controlling the soil matric potentialOriginal Paper

Xiuping Wang, Zhizhong Xue, Xuelin Lu, Yahui Liu, Guangming Liu, Zhe Wu

Soil & Water Res., 2019, 14(3):132-137 | DOI: 10.17221/106/2018-SWR  

Techniques of drip irrigation are broadly applied for the reclamation of saline-alkali lands, during which effective management of water use to accelerate salt leaching is essential for crop production. In 2017, a field experiment with five treatments of soil matric potential (SMP) levels of -5, -10, -15, -20, and -25 kPa was conducted in heavy saline silty soil land in Bohai Bay, China to study the effects of drip irrigation on salt leaching. The results showed that salt leaching was enhanced with increasing SMP, particularly under an SMP of -5 kPa within a 30 cm soil profile depth and 15 cm distance from the dripper, and the average electrical conductivity...

Land protection versus planned land consumption: an example of the Hradec Králové RegionOriginal Paper

Zbyněk Janoušek, Vladimír Papaj, Jiří Brázda

Soil & Water Res., 2019, 14(3):138-144 | DOI: 10.17221/102/2018-SWR  

One of the most significant environmental problems in Europe is the land use change as a result of urbanization. The estimate of future agricultural land takes in the Czech Republic previously published in this journal is alarming; however, this is based on arbitrarily determined assumptions. Our contribution brings a more realistic assessment of the extent of expected land takes (example of the Hradec Králové Region). For this purpose, the data from the municipalities' Planning Analytical Materials (PAM) on buildable areas (and redevelopment areas) and data on the existing expansion of built-up areas are used. Particular attention is paid to the best...

Carbon pool in soil under organic and conventional farming systemsOriginal Paper

Magdalena Hábová, Lubica Pospíšilová, Petr Hlavinka, Miroslav Trnka, Gabriela Barančíková, Zuzana Tarasovičová, Jozef Takáč, Štefan Koco, Ladislav Menšík, Pavel Nerušil

Soil & Water Res., 2019, 14(3):145-152 | DOI: 10.17221/71/2018-SWR  

Changes in the agricultural management and climatic changes within the past 25 years have had a serious impact on soil organic matter content and contribute to different carbon storage in the soil. Prediction of soil carbon pool, validation, and quantification of different models is important for sustainable agriculture in the future and for this purpose a long-term monitoring data set is required. RothC-26.3 model was applied for carbon stock simulation within two different climatic scenarios (hot-dry with rapid temperature increasing and warm-dry with less rapid temperature increasing). Ten years experimental data set have been received from conventional...

Determination of erosion rainfall criteria based on natural rainfall measurement and its impact on spatial distribution of rainfall erosivity in the Czech RepublicOriginal Paper

Jiří Brychta, Miloslav Janeček

Soil & Water Res., 2019, 14(3):153-162 | DOI: 10.17221/91/2018-SWR  

Rainfall erosivity is the main factor of the USLE or RUSLE equations. Its accuracy depends on recording precision and its temporal resolution, number of stations and their spatial distribution, length of recorded period, recorded period, erosion rainfall criteria, time step of rainfall intensity and interpolation method. This research focuses on erosion rainfall criteria. A network of 32 ombrographic stations, 1-min temporal resolution rainfall data, 35.6-year period and experimental runoff plots were used. We analysed 8951 rainfalls from ombrographic stations, 100 rainfalls and caused soil losses and runoffs from experimental runoff plots. Main parameter...

Analysis of trends of hydrologic and climatic variablesOriginal Paper

Elham Forootan

Soil & Water Res., 2019, 14(3):163-171 | DOI: 10.17221/154/2018-SWR  

Assessing trends of hydrologic variables related to both hydrologic processes facilitates accurate water resources forecasting, especially in arid and semiarid regions with high evaporation and low rainfall volume. In this study, spatial and temporal trends of six hydrologic and climatic variables, viz. rainfall, evaporation, streamflow discharge, temperature, wind speed and relative humidity and also the ratio of annual potential evaporation to precipitation (E/P) were analysed at a monthly and annual scale. Moreover, the relationship of relative humidity, temperature, rainfall and wind speed trends with evaporation trend was investigated. Results...

Reduction in soil organic matter loss caused by water erosion in inter-rows of hop gardensOriginal Paper

David Kabelka, David Kincl, Miloslav Janeček, Jan Vopravil, Petr Vráblík

Soil & Water Res., 2019, 14(3):172-182 | DOI: 10.17221/135/2018-SWR  

Currently, when cultivating Humulus lupulus, there is no systematic farming reducing soil erosion in the Czech Republic. As a result, annual irreversible soil and organic matter losses due to intensive rains occur on soils of hop gardens threatened by erosion. One of the possibilities how to reduce water erosion in hop gardens and thereby to decrease the amount of washed away organic matter is using the conservation effect of suitably selected catch crops in inter-rows. Two catch crops were selected to test: Phacelia tanacetifolia and a grass-legume mixture. Organic matter in soil is a key factor to maintain the stable soil environment...