Soil and military operations

Soil, particularly in agricultural areas, may be impacted by military operations, nowadays even in Europe. An example is Ukraine which is also an important exporter of agricultural products and thus contributes to providing food for the world population.

Here we present results of an international project aimed at the monitoring of the state of agricultural land in Ukraine affected by military operations. Samples from 15 different locations were analyzed for the basic characterization of the soil organic matter. Content of the oxidizable carbon and the ratio of humic and fulvic acids were determined. Further, soil samples were subjected to thermogravimetric and infrared spectroscopy measurements. Quality or stability of soil organic matter was addressed using the respirometric technique as suggested by Kolář at al. [1, 2]. The results were compared with corresponding data from monitoring of Czech agricultural soils.

References

1. Kolář L., Klimeš F., Ledvina R., Kužel S. A method to determine mineralization kinetics of a decomposable part of soil organic matter in the soil. Plant Soil Environ. 49(1), 8-11 (2003).

2. Kolář L., Ledvina R., Kužel S., Klimeš F., Štindl P. Soil Organic Matter and its Stability in Aerobic and Anaerobic Conditions. Soil & Water Res. 1(2), 57-64 (2006).

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by The NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme, project Nr. G6296. https://land-security.org/.