Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXVII, Issue 1
Written by Mădălina IORDACHE, Romina MAZARE, Iacob BORZA
The aim of the study was to identify the values of several soil parameters (particle size composition and bulk density) in a silvoarable ecosystem combining two types of plant cultures: a plantation of no-tilled hybrid poplar (Populus spp.) trees and a conventional tilled rapeseed crop (Brassica napus). The studied parameters have been chosen because these are sustainability indicators used in the monitoring of the agricultural ecosystems in general, but in particular to characterize a rare type of agricultural ecosystems in Romania, the agroforestry ecosystems, and in this case a silvoarable ecosystem, because these are poorly studied and described in this country. The results have shown in the 0-10 cm topsoil of the poplar plantation negative Pearson’s correlations between soil bulk density and respectively silt, colloidal clay and physical clay, and positive Pearson’s correlations between soil bulk density and respectively coarse sand and fine sand, and inverse correlations between the same factors in the 20-30 cm poplar soil. The coarse sand and the fine sand have negatively correlated with other textural fractions of the soil (silt, colloidal clay, physical clay) in both plant types, excepting the depth 20-30 cm in the poplar soil. The silt fraction was positively correlated with the clay fractions (colloidal and physical, respectively) in both plant types, excepting the depth 20-30 cm in the poplar soil, and a positive correlation has been found between the colloidal clay and the physical clay fractions in both plant types and for all soil depths. In this study, for the topsoil (0-10 cm) of the two components (poplar plantation and rapeseed crop) there were not found statistical significant differences between the proportions of the fractions coarse sand, colloidal clay and physical clay, but there were found for fine sand and silt fractions.
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