Effect of soil use on their quality, in areas of the farm “Baños de Marrero”

Abstract

Two areas (a natural and an agricultural ecosystem), located on brown calcareous soil (correlated to Order Inceptisol, Subgroup Mollic Eutrudept in the Soil Taxonomy system), were chosen with the aim of assessing the effect of agricultural land use on soil quality using the compared scenarios perspective. The physical indicators analyzed were aggregate stabled, permeability coefficient, the factor of structure, lower and upper limits of plasticity, as well as, the index of plasticity. The chemical indicators measured were pH (H2O), pH (KCl), organic matter content, and levels of P2O5 and K2O. Soil microbiology was analyzed by plate counting. For mesofauna extraction was used the funnel methodology of Berlese-Tullgren. Data processing was done using STATGRAPHICS vs 5.0 on Windows 7. The results demonstrated that the physical status of the soil was good in both ecosystems. Significant differences were found for pH, organic matter content, levels of P2O5 and K2O, and in the microbial population. However, no differences were found in mesofauna components; but, the principal components analyses showed that the differentiation between both ecosystems is more defined by the mesofauna and microbiological indicators.

Keywords

• mites
• springtails
• soil mesofauna
• Inceptisol
• land use