Phytotesting as a method for soil quality assessing

Abstract

Phytotesting is used for environmental monitoring of soil objects. The purpose of the work is to evaluate phytotesting to determine the quality of artificially created soils. Two samples were examined: Soil 1 with sewage sludge and Soil 2 with pit soil, a small amount of peat and sapropel. Control is soil that ensures free growth of test crops in the natural conditions of a certain soil-climatic zone where it is planned to supply the finished soil. Tests were carried out with seeds of three types of test plants: a monocot – oats (Avena sativa) and two dicotyledons – white mustard (Sinapis alba), creeping white clover (Trifolium repens). They were sown in containers with soil/ground and placed in a climate control system for 14 days (daytime – 20°C, night – 15°C). It was found that in Soil 1 all the studied biometric indicators of oats and white mustard are statistically significantly higher than in the control soil, and the development of creeping white clover is suppressed (wet weight is 8.9 and 2.1 times less compared to the control soil, respectively for seeding rates 10 and 30 g/m2). At the same time, in Soil 1, an excess of the content of gross forms of zinc by 2.5 and copper by 1.4 times was revealed. When testing Soil 2, the biometric indicators of oats and white mustard were at the control level, the wet and dry weight of clover sprouts was 2.9 and 1.7 times higher, respectively. Phytotesting can be considered as a qualitative reaction of the studied soil to plants and an integral indicator of its fertility. A prerequisite is the use of test plants with small seeds. This will allow us to evaluate their response to stimulating and toxic soil components.