Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LX
Written by Tatiana CIOLACU
The paper aimed to present current state of humus in arable typical chernozems from the Republic of Moldova. Theyoccupy a significant area in the country’s land fund, about 70%. The research was conducted in the North of Moldova. Typical chernozems in natural state are the most fertile soils from our country. They have a very deep humus profile. Soils in natural state are very rich in humus that decreases gradually with depth, in our case from 6.86% in upper horizon to 0.12% in Ck horizon. Humus reserves of typical fallow chernozem are 472 t/ha in humiferous profile. Long-term involvement in agriculture, furthermore, insignificant and insufficient fertilization with organic fertilizers since ’90 years, led to their degradation and negative humus balance. According to our research, these soils lost about 2.12% of humus from 0-25 cm layer that represents 34 percent from its initial amount. Humus reserves of arable typical chernozem decreased by 52 t/ha in comparison with fallow soil. Analysis of humus composition of researched soils revealed that fallow and arable typical chernozems possess humus of humate type that is characteristic for this soil type. Therefore, agricultural use did not change the humus type of soils
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