<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Current state and development of land degradation processes based on soil monitoring system in Slovakia is evaluated in this contribution. Soil monitoring system in Slovakia is consistently running since 1993 year in 5-years repetitions. Soil monitoring network in Slovakia is constructed using ecological principle, taking into account all main soil types and subtypes, soil organic matter, climatic regions, emission regions, polluted and non-polluted regions as well as various land use. The result of soil monitoring network is 318 sites on agricultural land in Slovakia. Soil properties are evaluated according to the main threats to soil relating to European Commission recommendation for European soil monitoring performance as follows: soil erosion and compaction, soil acidification, decline in soil organic matter and soil contamination. The most significant change has been determined in physical degradation of soils. The physical degradation was especially manifested in compacted and the eroded soils. It was determined that about 39% of agricultural land is potentially affected by soil erosion in Slovakia. In addition, slight decline in soil organic matter indicates the serious facts on evaluation and extension of soil degradation processes during the last period in Slovakia. Soil contamination is without significant change for the time being. It means the soils contaminated before soil monitoring process this unfavourable state lasts also at present.</p></abstract>

Current state and development of land degradation processes based on soil monitoring system in Slovakia is evaluated in this contribution. Soil monitoring system in Slovakia is consistently running since 1993 year in 5-years repetitions. Soil monitoring network in Slovakia is constructed using ecological principle, taking into account all main soil types and subtypes, soil organic matter, climatic regions, emission regions, polluted and non-polluted regions as well as various land use. The result of soil monitoring network is 318 sites on agricultural land in Slovakia. Soil properties are evaluated according to the main threats to soil relating to European Commission recommendation for European soil monitoring performance as follows: soil erosion and compaction, soil acidification, decline in soil organic matter and soil contamination. The most significant change has been determined in physical degradation of soils. The physical degradation was especially manifested in compacted and the eroded soils. It was determined that about 39% of agricultural land is potentially affected by soil erosion in Slovakia. In addition, slight decline in soil organic matter indicates the serious facts on evaluation and extension of soil degradation processes during the last period in Slovakia. Soil contamination is without significant change for the time being. It means the soils contaminated before soil monitoring process this unfavourable state lasts also at present.

Current State and Development of Land Degradation Processes Based on Soil Monitoring in Slovakia

National Agricultural and Food Centre – Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute

Agriculture (Pol'nohospodárstvo)

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Current state and development of land degradation processes based on soil monitoring system in Slovakia is evaluated in this contribution. Soil monitoring...

Current State and Development of Land Degradation Processes Based on Soil Monitoring in Slovakia

Published Online: Sep 09, 2017

Page range: 74 - 85

Received: Apr 04, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/agri-2017-0007

Keywords
soil monitoring, threats to soil, soil degradation processes, soils in Slovakia

© 2017 Jozef Kobza et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Current State and Development of Land Degradation Processes Based on Soil Monitoring in Slovakia

Published Online: Sep 09, 2017

Page range: 74 - 85

Received: Apr 04, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/agri-2017-0007

Keywordssoil monitoring, threats to soil, soil degradation processes, soils in Slovakia

© 2017 Jozef Kobza et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
soil monitoring, threats to soil, soil degradation processes, soils in Slovakia