Determination of soil loss on agricultural land based on field measurements in the Czech Republic

The agricultural sector in the Czech and Slovak Republic has problems in big and also in small farms. The pa- per is based on the assumption of the family farm algorithm, which is focused on the plant production. A family farm is represented by two adults and two children. The aim is to calculate the minimum size of the farm in hectare needed to achieve the average income (in the national economy) of the 4-member family in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia. The algorithms for determining the size of a family farm focused on crop farming in the corn production area in the economic and production conditions of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic were given the following inputs: the average annual income of a 4 member family, own costs for chosen crops, prices crops, average subsidies for agricultural land, average annual harvests of chosen crops. Data were obtained from the ministries of agriculture and statistical offices from both states. We calculate the average 4 member family in Slovakia needs to earn minimum 16 77.44 Euro per year and in the Czech Republic 18 322.08 Euro per year. The results of the paper proved that, according to the model of an average farm focused on crop production, the acreage of 89.99 ha in Slovakia and 122.31 ha in the Czech Republic of agricultural land needs to have one family farm. We are calculating with following commodities: wheat, barley, grain maize, sunflower, oil rape, potatoes and pea. One way to track changes in farm structure is to examine trends in the average size of holding, or average herd size in the case of livestock farms. However, this measure can seriously underestimate the pace of change where much of the growth (in area farmed, or in livestock numbers) takes place on the larger holdings. The persistence of many small holdings, even though the share of the land or livestock that they control is small and may be falling, tends to mask the extent of structural change as measured by averages. The aim of submitted paper is to determine the minimum size of agricultural land of a small family farm focused on plant production in the economic and production conditions of the Czech and Slovak Republics. In the submitted paper the data on farmers has been used in Slovakia and the Czech Republic from the data of business calculations by Research Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics from Slovakia and Research Institute of Agricultural Economy from Czech Republic. Key words: farm size, agricultural land, crop production, crops, costs, prices, subsidies.

<p>Czech soil data is a mess. Modelling infiltration, or its probably most watched companion - runoff, has been quite a painful process for any researcher or practitioner studying any site larger or more heterogeneous than a few parcels of arable land. There are at least three main national soil databases in the Czech Republic, each of different age, scope, classification system and - most unfortunately - different administrator. So far Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation has taken good care of data for agricultural land, while The Forest Management Institute did his job considering forest soils. A few other research institutes manage their own specific databases. There has been no service available providing consistent data for the whole country, nor methodology giving some guidelines on how to cope with differences in existing datasets, though a few large-scale applications and studies do exist. This contribution presents preliminary results of a running project TJ02000234 - Physical and hydropedological soil properties of the Czech Republic. It aims at harmonizing and combining available datasets and deriving layers of soil texture and hydropedological properties. Next the project aims at gathering available measurements of hydraulic properties of Czech soil types and their partial validation and extending with field measurements in the scope limited by the 2-years of project duration. The derived database and data products will be published in the form of a certified map as well as offered to professionals through an online GIS portal. Design planners in the Land consolidation, flood and soil erosion mitigation projects as well as professionals in public administration and researchers in environmental disciplines will benefit from the publication of this consistent data.</p>

Ultrafine particles (UFP, diameter < 100 nm) exposure has already been associated with adverse effects on human health. Spatial distribution of UFP is non-uniform; they concentrate in the vicinity of the source, e.g. traffic, because of their short lifespan. This work investigates spatial distribution of UFP in three areas in the Czech Republic with different traffic load: High traffic (Prague neighborhood—Sporilov), commuter road vicinity (Libeznice), and a small city with only local traffic (Celakovice). Size-resolved measurements of particles in the 5–500 nm range were taken with a particle classifier mounted, along with batteries, GPS and other accessories, on a handcart and pushed around the areas, making one-minute or longer stops at places of interest. Concentrations along main roads were elevated in comparison with places farther from the road; this pattern was observed in all sites, while particle number distributions both close and away from main roads had similar patterns. The absence of larger particles, the relative absence of higher concentrations of particles away from the main roads, and similar number distributions suggest that high particle number concentrations cannot be readily attributed to sources other than internal combustion engines in vehicles and mobile machinery (i.e., mowers and construction machines).

We analyze relationships between fault and joint tectonics and landforms in the south-western part of the Broumovska vrchovina (Bohemian Massif ), where the surface topography is strongly influenced by the tectonics and lithology of the Upper Cretaceous and Permo- Carboniferous sedimentary series. We examine joint orientation using field measurements and 3D seismic tomography. The orientation of linear topographic features (morpholineaments) shows a clear dependency on two perpendicular joint systems, which exhibit either a NE –SW or a N W-SE orientation. Morpholineaments oriented in a N W-SE direction are more apparent in the surface topography and their frequency is higher. This can be attributed to the mechanical properties of NW-SE striking joints, which tend to be more open and penetrate to greater depths, making them more favourable for erosion processes.

This chapter focuses on the acquisition of agricultural land in the Czech Republic. It aims to describe this topic in its historical and property law context since the privatization of agricultural land after 1989 still concerns its transfer from the state to private individuals. Furthermore, transfers of agri- cultural land were restricted on the basis of nationality until being gradually abolished after the Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004. First, the chapter describes the Czech concept of agriculture and agricultural land and the general legal framework of both protection and transfer of agricultural land. Then, restrictions on the cross-border acquisition of agricultural land are analyzed in the context of land restitution and specific measures toward foreign investors. A separate subchapter is devoted to the application of the preemption right of the state. The last part introduces the general requirements on the transfer of agricultural land, with a particular focus on the evidence in the Real Estate Register. Additional requirements for the transfer of state-owned land are described with details on priority transfers of agricultural land, sales by public offer, and public tender. The authors conclude that, currently, the only major obstacle to the cross-border acquisition of agricultural land in the Czech Republic is the state’s preemption right, which applies only to selected land, particularly in protected natural areas. Transfers of state-owned agricultural land are gov- erned by special rules, which, however, do not in principle restrict interested parties from other states within the EU or the European Economic Area. Neither do they distinguish between persons residing or established in the Czech Republic and in another member state, nor do they differentiate between the requirements for conducting agricultural activities.

The quality of agricultural land fund in the Czech Republic is assessed via a valuation system based on the ecological-productive land evaluation. This system was established in the 1960-1980s after a complex survey of agricultural land. It provided integral information on the agricultural land quality and on the price of agricultural land parcels derived from their productive capacity. Starting from the 1990s, evidence in the database of Evaluated Soil-Ecological Units (ESEU) has been regularly updated. Intensive cultivation of wide-spaced crops, namely in extended, largely sloped land parcels, has resulted in degradation of land characteristics by the effects of erosion. The ESEU updating makes it possible to detect these changes and their quantification by differences in land price. This approach was applied to evaluate the economic impacts of erosion at two model localities in intensively exploited agricultural areas, in the region of the most productive soils of the Czech Republic. We compared the price per 1 m2 of land according to the land characteristics determined by the first land valuation with the current soil price based on the ESEU update. We also compared changes in the land characteristics. In the GIS environment, we established the mean long-term soil loss by erosion based on the original ESEU and compared it with the calculated soil loss based on the updated ESEU. The calculation method used was in accordance with the valid methodology for erosion calculation in the Czech Republic.

ABSTRACTWater erosion is identified as the most severe type of soil degradation in the Czech Republic. Systematic protection preventing water erosion is not carried out in large areas of agricultural land. The map of the maximum tolerable CP factor value (the cover-management and the support-practice factors) – CPmax was compiled in order to assess erosion hazard on agricultural land. It estimates the requirements of the conservation practices which would not cause soil erosion above the tolerable limit of annual soil loss. The map is based on calculations using an adjusted Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and is easy to apply. It has already been applied in the Czech Republic when creating the map of erosion vulnerability for the purposes of delimitation of Standards of Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs), within Cross Compliance. The map covers the whole territory of the Czech Republic (scale 1:1,000,000).

Erosion on the agricultural soils in the Czech Republic threats seriously their production and nonproduction functions. Erosion have devastating effect on fertile topsoil of the agricultural soils, reduces the thickness of the soil profile and nutrients and humus content, deteriorate physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. At the Brno University of Technology in Czech Republic was designed and realized equipment "the soil erosion bridge", which allows the soil surface profile measurement and quantifies the volume of erosion rills, which can occur after heavy rainfall. The main objective was to develop a method for volumetric quantification of erosion rills during heavy rainfall season. Using new equipment the soil surface profile was measured directly in the field during 4 years (2007–2010). New equipment consists of three parts. The first equipment is a square frame with an inside dimension of 4 m2. The second equipment is removable profile, which serves for movement of the soil erosion bridge. The third equipment is the soil erosion bridge. The soil erosion bridge serves to volumetric quantification of rill erosion. The more effective way of data processing was developed. It was developed a software, by which it is possible the automatically transfer the rill surface profile to digital form.In the South Moravian Region in the Czech Republic was selected case study area with typical very steep sloped relief with the loess soil. The measurement was carried out on the research plots with a slope of more than 10%. More than 1300 cross sections of the soil surface profile were measured using the new type of soil erosion bridge. From these profiles it was possible to calculate the volume of the eroded soil from the research plots. The results were always in excess of 100 t.ha–1.rok–1. This is a value many times higher than the tolerated limit of soil loss in Czech Republic. Thanks to this new equipment, it is possible to quantify the soil loss from the plot threatened of water erosion. The advantage of this equipment is its using during the vegetable season when the soil surface is overgrown with vegetation and crops are higher growth.

The article is focused on the tyre/road noise and vibration measurements of the motorway network in the Czech Republic between 2012 and 2020. Three different surfaces were measured, namely a conventional stone mastic asphalt pavement (SMA 11S) and two cement concrete pavements with different treatments – burlap drag and exposed aggregate. A basic statistical analysis of the noise values in different years after laying was performed. Cement concrete treated by burlap drag method has lower noise values than SMA 11S. This is to be expected as burlap drag method is considered a low-noise cement concrete treatment. However, it has worse skid resistance properties and so the exposed aggregate cement concrete (EACC) began to be used. SMA 11S and EACC have very similar noise levels in all years tested, suggesting that they behave acoustically in the same way. Vibrations were investigated during field measurements with an accelerometer mounted on the CPX trailer. The noise and vibration results could thus be compared with each other. There is a positive correlation between them.

This paper evaluates the total biomass and pools of major nutrients and ecologically important metals of the tree layer in the catchment of Plesne jezero (PL) in the Bohemian Forest (Sumava, Czech Republic), and compares them to analogous data on understory vegetation and soils. The results are based on field measurements and semi-automatic image analyses of aerial orthophotographs. The tree layer was relatively sparse with open canopy in some parts of the catchment. Stand density varied between 44 and 328 individuals per hectare. The catchment weighted mean total biomass of trees was 134 t ha−1 dry weight, of which needles, branches, roots, and stems represented 5%, 10%, 14%, and 71%, respectively. The stem wood and bark represented 67% and 4%, respectively, of the total tree biomass. The catchment weighted mean element pools were 568 and 3.0 mol m−2 (i.e., 68 and 0.42 t ha−1) for C and N, respectively. The other pools were 76 mmol P m−2, 602 mmol Ca m−2, 133 mmol Mg m−2, 39 mmol Na m−2, 347 mmol K m−2, 19 mmol Al m−2, 6.2 mmol Fe m−2, and 35 mmol Mn m−2. The element pools accumulated in the tree biomass represented from < 1% (Al, Fe) to 37% (C) of their total pools (soil + tree layer + understory vegetation) in the catchment. Pools of Ca and Mg in the tree biomass were similar to their exchangeable pools in the catchment soils, while those of K were 3 times higher. Nutrient (N, P, Ca, Mg, and K) and C pools in the tree biomass were 2–11 times higher than those in the understory vegetation, with the minimum for P and maximum for C.

The subsurface total drainage quantity is a very important hydrological indicator to solve the drainage problems in a&amp;nbsp;field of water management in the landscape, especially in a situation after massive floods. Described in this paper is an estimation of the subsurface total drainage quantity, which was developed by the operation of a subsurface pipe drainage system in saturated, middle permeable soil under unsteady state drainage flow with the application of the Dupuit&amp;rsquo;s assumptions and Darcy&amp;rsquo;s law, by analytical approximation. The correctness and applicability of this estimation of the subsurface total drainage quantity was verified by field measurements on the loamy soils of an experimental watershed area of the Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation (RISWC) Prague-Zbraslav, Czech Republic. The parameters and the shape of this subsurface total drainage quantity equation were also proved with the help of nonlinear regression analysis, with application of the method of Marquardt. This analytical approximation should serve as an elementary tool of water engineering practice for an immediate estimation of the values of subsurface total drainage quantities from field pipe drainage systems in saturated loamy soils. It requires only a minimum amount of information (fundamental soil hydrology data and drainage system basic design parameters) and its use is often viewed, it is simple, user-friendly and is possible for a wide range of drainage policies.

Comparison of hydraulic conductivity of rock matrix and fractured blocks of granitic rocks

The study aims to characterise the changes in elemental composition in the river sediments of streams influenced by mine waters enriched with radionuclides. The study took place in the vicinity of Ostrava, a city located in a coal mining region in the Czech Republic, namely the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. River sediments and waters of the Karvinský potok and Stružka streams were investigated. Field measurements were made for ambient dose equivalent rate (ADER). Laboratory gamma spectrometry and X-ray fluorescence were used to determine the content of radionuclides and elemental composition in river sediments. Water samples were analysed for the content of major ions and radionuclides. The field ADER measurement proved elevated content of radionuclides with values exceeding 1,000 nSv/h in both streams. The discharged mine waters were Na–Cl type, containing an 226Ra (0.68–0.70 Bq/l) as a dominant radionuclide. Laboratory measurements of radionuclides in bottom sediments proved that the prevailing source of radiation are 226Ra and 232Th in both streams. The calculated enrichment factors showed extreme values for Sr, Cr, Pb, Zn, Cu, and Mo. The precipitation reactions forming Ca-minerals (calcite and aragonite), Fe-bearing minerals (hematite, goethite and amorphous Fe(OH)3) and hausmannite were found to be the primary geochemical process underway in the studied riverine systems. The correlation between elements and radionuclides demonstrated the significant role of geochemical barriers that lead to the precipitation of radionuclides from solution. The results show that the precipitation takes place preferentially in places where other waters enter the stream, or where recent organic matter is present.

The discrete Anisotropic Radiative Transfer (DART) model, coupled with an adjusted version of the PROSPECT model, was used to retrieve total chlorophyll content (Cab) of a complex Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) canopy from airborne hyperspectral data acquired at very high spatial resolution. The radiative transfer models were parameterized by using field measurements and observations collected from a young spruce stand growing at the permanent experimental site Bílý Kríž (the Moravian-Silesian Beskydy Mts., the Czech Republic, 18.53863°E, 49.50256°N, 936 m a.s.l.). A set of the hyperspectral images with a pixel-size of 0.4 m was acquired for the test site by an airborne AISA Eagle VNIR system in September 18th, 2004. An operational canopy Cab estimation was carried out by means of a PROSPECT-DART inversion employing an artificial neural network (ANN) and a vegetation index ANCB650-720. Both retrieval approaches used continuum removed reflectance values of six AISA Eagle spectral bands located between 650 and 720 nm. The Cab inversion was only performed for direct sun exposed (sunlit) crown pixels in order to ensure a high quality (noiseless) reflectance signal. Results of both inversion approaches were similar, when validated against the ground measured Cab of nine Norway spruce crowns. Coefficients of determination (R2) between ground truth and remote sensing Cab estimates were 0.78 and 0.76, respectively, with root mean square errors (RMSE) of 2.95 μg cm⁻² for the ANN and 3.36 μg cm⁻² for the ANCB650-720 retrieval. The spatial patterns of Cab values estimated by both inversion methods were consistent with each other. About 80% of the Cab estimated values had an absolute difference smaller than 2 µg cm⁻².

The subsurface drainage discharge is one of the most important indicators of the impact of the drainage systems on the water management. The procedure adopted in this study is based on the application of the De Zeeuw-Hellinga theory to derive the final expression for the estimation of the value of the subsurface drainage discharge. A simple analytical approximation of the Bussinesq&amp;rsquo;s Equation was used to verify theoretically the validity of the De Zeeuw-Hellinga assumptions and to confirm the correctness of other corresponding processes. The formulas describing the subsurface drainage discharge were derived in the conditions of the unsteady state subsurface flow to drains. These conditions included the approximately horizontal impervious layer and the Dupuit&amp;rsquo;s assumptions and Darcy&amp;rsquo;s law. No recharge to the groundwater table was realised during the drainage testing. The applicability of the De Zeeuw-Hellinga formula and the accuracy of the analytical approximation of the subsurface drainage discharge by the Bussinesq&amp;rsquo;s Equation were verified by the real field measurements on the heavy soils of the experimental watershed area of the Research Institute for Soil and Water Conservation (RISWC) Prague-Zbraslav, Czech Republic. The same data were successfully used also for the confirmation of the accuracy of the method for the derivation of a simple analytical approximation of the subsurface total drainage quantity. It was demonstrated that this approximation of the subsurface drainage discharge by De Zeeuw-Hellinga theory could satisfactorily serve in the area of water engineering practice as an elementary tool for the immediate estimation of the values of the subsurface drainage discharges from the pipe drainage systems in the saturated porous environment. The advantage of this approximation is particularly the minimum amount of the input data, e.g. the basic soil hydrology data and drainage system basic design parameters. The sphere of the use of the De Zeeuw-Hellinga equations is certainly very wide. The verifications of the field test results and measurements demonstrated that the possibilities of applications and their perceived benefits to the user can be fulfilled.