Soil quality and proposal for fertility improvement of arable soil in Rasina District

Abstract

During the regular control of soil fertility in the Rasina District, it was established that the plots of land were distributed across Vertisol, Eutric Cambisol and Fluvisol types of soils, and to a lesser extent on Pseudogley and Ranker. The tested samples had different textures – sandy loam and loam, clay-sandy loam and clay loam, and clay. Plots of land that were of very acidic and acidic reactions were predominant, with medium amounts of humus, very low amounts of available phosphorus, and high amounts of available potassium. High or very high cation absorption capacity was found in about half of the examined fields; a deficient content of exchangeable Ca was recorded in 22% of plots and that of exchangeable Mg in 16% of plots, while an unfavorable Ca/Mg ratio was measured in 44% of plots. The overall sensitivity to acidification was mainly moderate (50.6% of plots) and strong (20.2% of plots). Very high concentrations of mobile Al, which could be toxic to plants, were found in 5 field plots.