Assessment of Retention Potential and Soil Organic Carbon Density of Agriculturally used Chernozems, Cambisols and Fluvisols

Abstract

Climate change and the increasing frequency of climatic extremes have led to growing concerns over the sustainability of agriculture during recent years. In this context, soil retention and carbon storage are becoming widely discussed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the retention potential (RP) and soil organic carbon density (SOCD) of Chernozem, Cambisol and Fluvisol topsoil under agricultural management. Despite the different natural assumptions of these soil types, no significant statistical difference was found there. Mean RP values of the soil types varied from 39 to 40 mm and mean SOCD values from 23 to 28 t/ha. This finding may suggest that long-term agricultural management can suppress the naturally diverse potential for water retention and carbon storage of the individual soil types. Comparison of SOCD of the studied soils with agricultural soils in similar studies showed that most of the observed values can be considered as average. Despite this fact, a very strong local degradation has been revealed indicating poor agricultural management. Especially in such cases, there is an urgent need to adjust the management of the agricultural land fund (e.g. increased application of organic fertilizers, change in crop rotation) in order to increase carbon stocks and to improve the water retention capacity of soils.