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Folia Geographica 2016, 58/1, pp. 22-33

EFFECT OF SOIL MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURAL LAND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOIL ORGANIC CARBON STOCKS

Štefan KOCO A*, Rastislav SKALSKÝ B, Gabriela BARANČÍKOVÁ C, Zuzana TARASOVIČOVÁ D, Jarmila MAKOVNÍKOVÁ E, Monika GUTTEKOVÁ F, Peter KOLEDA G

Received: September 29, 2016 | Revised: October 29, 2016 | Accepted: November 4, 2016

A* University of Prešov, 17. novembra 1, 080 01 Prešov, Slovakia
stefan.koco@unipo.sk (corresponding author)

A National Agricultural & Food Centre, Soil Science & Conservation Research Institute, Gagarinova 10, 827 13 Bratislava, Slovakia
s.koco@vupop.sk

B National Agricultural & Food Centre, Soil Science & Conservation Research Institute, Gagarinova 10, 827 13 Bratislava, Slovakia
r.skalsky@vupop.sk

C National Agricultural & Food Centre, Soil Science & Conservation Research Institute, Gagarinova 10, 827 13 Bratislava, Slovakia
g.barancikova@vupop.sk

D National Agricultural & Food Centre, Soil Science & Conservation Research Institute, Gagarinova 10, 827 13 Bratislava, Slovakia
z.tarasovicova@vupop.sk

E National Agricultural & Food Centre, Soil Science & Conservation Research Institute, Gagarinova 10, 827 13 Bratislava, Slovakia
j.makovnikova@vupop.sk

F National Agricultural & Food Centre, Soil Science & Conservation Research Institute, Gagarinova 10, 827 13 Bratislava, Slovakia
m.guttekova@vupop.sk

G National Agricultural & Food Centre, Soil Science & Conservation Research Institute, Gagarinova 10, 827 13 Bratislava, Slovakia
p.koleda@vupop.sk

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Abstract
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is important component of the soil which is influencing many soil properties. SOC stock in the topsoil of agricultural soils is largely affected by soil management. SOC and soil management interactions can be simulated by process-based models such as e.g. RothC which has already been successfully applied in conditions of Slovakia. Here we present an approach to modelling of the SOC stock changes with RothC model in the study area (Ondavská vrchovina highland region) in 1970 – 2020 periods. We simulated SOC stock dynamics for topsoil (0 – 30 cm) of agricultural soils using 1 x 1 km spatial resolution grid of simulation units providing all necessary input data for the model. Analyzing the historical and recently observed land cover datasets we observed significant changes in agricultural land extent and cropland/grassland ratio between 1970 and 2004. Since appropriate information on historical land cover changes was not available we designed set of theoretical scenarios to represent cropland to grassland (or vice versa) conversions occurring in the study area in respective years 1971, 1980, 1990 or 2000. The SOC stock in the study area we simulated for different scenarios increased by 15 – 28% between 1970 and 2020. We also observed good agreement between organic carbon inputs variability and the changes in SOC stock for all theoretical land cover change scenarios. We think that accurate modelling of SOC stocks in the study area would require detailed information on where land cover changes occurred both in the space and time. We have also found that another important parameter affecting the SOC stock simulation results is stone content in the topsoil.

Key words
RothC model, cropland/grassland conversions, land cover change, Ondavská vrchovina highland

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