Detailed Soil Survey Field and Laboratory Data as a Critical Tool for Optimizing the Arable Cropping Capability Evaluation of a Representative Episaturated Soil Pedon in Greece

Dionisios Gasparatos,Orestis Kairis

doi:10.3390/land11020182

Abstract

The objective of the present work is to contribute to the examination of the interconnections between soil classification/soil mapping and soil capability for agricultural use. A pedon scale analytical field along with laboratory data of an episaturated agricultural soil of Thessaly (Greece), allowed for the optimization of soil fertility class evaluation and its corresponding agricultural value. Specific soil properties, low chroma colors and the distribution of redoximorphic features within the soil profile (Fe-Mn concretions) revealed the presence of impermeable argillic horizons, resulting in a perched water table in late winter and spring. The evaluation of the soil pedon was carried out through the accurate parameterization and implementation of a technical soil classification system and a soil rating method, both of which are well known worldwide, and which use detailed soil survey data. The results confirmed the general principle that only by using detailed soil survey field and laboratory data can any technical soil classification system or soil rating method be adapted and properly applied. Both the classification system and the scoring methodology of the soil profile reached the same conclusion: characterizing the studied soil as of good potential for general arable cropping or as of fair agricultural value. This was achieved only by considering the phenomenon of episaturation, which emerged from the plethora of detailed soil survey data, guiding the classification system and the scoring methodology to produce reliability and represent real situation results.

Highlights

A basic principle that applies to soil classification systems is that the most detailed taxonomic category of a natural system is a prerequisite for the documentation and synthesis of any other technical classification system, which is created for a special purpose [1]
This is because, unlike technical classification systems, a natural system such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Keys to Soil Taxonomy [2] or the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) Taxonomy System [3] attempts to present the relationships among as many important soil properties as possible
The clay content in soil horizons ranges from 22.8% to 40.0% with loamy surface textures, while clayey and silty clay soils are dominant in the illuvial part of the profile at which a strong medium angular blocky structure, typical of argillic horizon, prevails

Summary

Introduction

A basic principle that applies to soil classification systems is that the most detailed (lowest) taxonomic category of a natural system is a prerequisite for the documentation and synthesis of any other technical classification system, which is created for a special purpose [1]. This is because, unlike technical classification systems, a natural system such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Keys to Soil Taxonomy [2] or the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) Taxonomy System [3] attempts to present the relationships among as many important soil properties as possible. The Storie soil scoring scale was derived from a systematic study of the widely variated California soils in the United States of America [18]

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Conclusion