Modifications of soil physico-chemical properties as a result of long-lasting mineral and organic fertilization

The effects of farmyard manure, slurry and mineral fertilizers were compared. In two static field experiments the fertilizers were balanced every year according to amounts of nitrogen introduced to the soil. Soil samples, for basic chemical and physicochemical analyses, were taken from 0-25 cm top layer after crop harvesting. It was found that in majority of treatments an increase of hydrolytic acidity was higher for mineral than organic fertilisers. The level of base saturation of the sorption complex was similar. Mineral and organo-mineral fertilization contributed to a reduction of hydrogen cations in the sorption complex. Farmyard manure was more favourable than slurry at both applied rates. Among the studied treatments, the highest concentration of basic cations was found in the soils supplemented with farmyard manure. In the sorption complex of the studied soils, the predominant cation was Ca2+, at the same time the lowest share of Na+ was found.