Spatial distribution of soil organic carbon content in the agricultural land uses: Case study at the territory of the Rahoveci municipality, Kosovo

Abstract

Due to the soil formation factors and different geographic areas of Dukagjini Plain, particularly in Rahovec municipality, the variation of soil organic carbon is high. Soil organic carbon (SOC) has a crucial role in the determination of the physical, chemical and biological behaviour of the soil. The most common land use types of this area are vineyards, table grapes, horticulture such as peppers and cabbage, and arable lands such as maize, winter wheat, alfalfa, and meadows. Considering the lack of soil information data in Kosovo, it is necessary to have soil information about this territory. The main objectives of the present study are, therefore: i) to investigate and determine the concentration of the soil organic matter (SOM), SOC, nitrogen (N) and soil pH-H2O, using laboratory analysis, and ii) to show the spatial distribution of SOC, SOM, N and pH using the Kriging and inverse weighting interpolation methods. Spatial variability of soil chemical parameters such as SOM, SOC, N, and pH are important to be interpolated to view the changeable soil properties by kriging and inverse distance weighting method and to generate the continuous sample for site-specific management. Disturbed soil samples were collected from the top soil 0-30 cm and 30-60 cm depth, to determine selected soil chemical parameters, during June-July 2019. A large number of soil samples were collected, 2087 in the first horizon and 2065 in the second. The average of SOC of the first horizon was 0.91%, which variates from 0.07 to 4.06%, while in the second horizon was 0.0 to 2.84%, the average content of N in the first horizon was 0.09%, which variate from 0.01 to 0.60%, while in the second horizon was 0.0 to 0.39%, meanwhile, the average of soil pH-H2O in the first horizon was 7.67, which variates from 4.25 to 9.35, while in the second horizon was 7.79, which variate from 3.25 to 9.30.