Pavol KENDERESSY¹ & Juraj LIESKOVSKÝ^2
1Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Stefánikova 3, P.O. Box 254, 814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia, e-mail: pavol.kenderessy@savba.sk
²Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Akademická 2, P.O. Box 22, 949 01 Nitra, Slovakia, email: juraj.lieskovsky@savba.sk

IMPACT OF THE SOIL EROSION ON SOIL PROPERTIES ALONG A SLOPE CATENA - CASE STUDY HORNÝ OHAJ VINEYARDS, SLOVAKIA

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Long term erosion processes affect soil significantly, especially on vineyards that represent one of the most erosion prone types of cultivated lands. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of erosion processes on soil properties in the vineyards of Vráble viticultural district in Slovakia. The spatial and profile changes of selected soil properties have been measured along the slope transects on summit, backslope and footslope position. Transects were located on same slope under two different types of soil cultivation: ploughing and hoeing. The erosion and deposition rates were estimated using the levelling method based on successive measurement of the soil surface variability against vineyard. We found a significant difference between erosion and deposition rates on different part of the slope as well as in use of different management practices. Some selected soil properties (pH, organic carbon content - Cox, bulk density -BD, porosity - POR, erodibility - K, Cu content) were compared both for the severe eroded ploughed and the slightly eroded hoed vineyard in summit, footslope and backslope. In case of hoed vineyard the parameters reached values of: Summit – Ph = 7.54; Cox= 1.30 %; BD = 1.38 g.cm³; POR = 48.10 %; K = 0.42; Cu = 213 mg.kg^-1, Backslope – Ph = 7.59; Cox= 1.33 %; BD = 1.36 g.cm³; POR = 49.30 %; K = 0.46; Cu = 194 mg.kg^-1, Footslope – Ph = 7.60; Cox= 1.34 %; BD = 1.26 g.cm³; POR = 52.30 %; K = 0.39; Cu = 215 mg.kg^-1. In case of ploughed vineyard parameters reached values of: summit – Ph = 7.72; Cox= 1.76 %; BD = 1.50 g.cm³; POR = 43.10 %; K = 0.36; Cu = 188 mg.kg^-1, backslope – Ph = 7.42; Cox= 1.08 %; BD = 1.38 g.cm³; POR = 48.20 %; K = 0.48; Cu = 124 mg.kg^-1, footslope – Ph = 7.36; Cox= 1.44 %; BD = 1.60 g.cm³; POR = 39.30 %; K = 0.44; Cu = 144 mg.kg^-1.The higher variability of soil properties and more intensive transformation of soil profile related to more accelerated erosion processes on ploughed vineyard have been noticed. Values of pH, organic carbon content and Cu content were considerable lower in the eroded part of the ploughed vineyard if compared with the slightly eroded hoed vineyard.