Abstract
The role of organic matter in soil fertility has been well known for hundreds of years, but the role of humus quality and its environmental functions has been discovered only during the last 30 years. We outlined in an earlier study our equivalent humus parameter for the characterization of humus content and humus quality, EH G= H t ha-1 K, where H t ha-1 is the humus content in tonnes per hectare at a depth of 1 m and K is the humus quality parameter calculated from extinction ratios of 1% NaF and 0.5% NaOH soil humus extracts. K values vary greatly; soils with raw organic materials show values around 0.01, whereas soils with the best humus quality (chernozems) have values of about 10. In investigations in recent years, we started from our general database of about 4000 sampling sites and extended the research with particular humus quality investigations over many hundreds of soil profiles for equivalent humus values. Compared with their humus status expressed in our results in log EH G values, podzols have the lowest values ( 1.50-1.70 ), brown forest soils are in the medium range ( 1.90-2.50 ) and chernozems have the highest values ( 3.00–3.20 ). The results represent 81.14% of the cultivated area of Hungary. As K values increase as a result of humification, which produces long-chain humic acids, and their C/N values decrease, we express at the same time the polyfunctionality of humic substances, by a general environmental protection capacity, EPC G= D x H 2 K, and a special environmental protection capacity, EPC s= D x H 2 R, where D x is the thickness of the soil layer in centimeters, H is the humus percentage and R= K/(C/N). This system is suitable for evaluation of the humus status in landscape planning, in land use in the maintenance of soil fertility. Because of the important role of humus in binding toxic elements and xenobiotics, the results are of value for sustainable land use.
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