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Agricultural land abandonment represents a significant landscape-forming process affecting vegetation structure, soil stability, and the functionality of agroecosystems. This paper focuses on the identification and mapping of agricultural unused land (AUL) in the cadastral territory of Velke Trencianske Stankovce (Trencin district, western Slovakia). The analysis is conducted on 371 state-owned parcels and parcels with unknown or unidentified ownership managed by the Slovak Land Fund, covering a total area of 98.0...

Peat is one of the most important natural resources in Latvia. Peat extraction in Latvia occurs mainly from raised bogs (high bogs) and represents an important economic sector, mainly focused on horticulture. Of the total affected area, which exceeds 50 thousand hectares, approximately 18 thousand hectares are no longer actively exploited and require management, renaturalization or recultivation. Since the main tool for preventing rapid degradation of cutover peat soils is vegetation restoration, one of the scenar...

Soil microelements play an essential role in plant nutrition and in the biochemical and physiological processes that influence crop growth, development, and productivity. Imbalances in the availability of micronutrients may lead to nutrient deficiencies, reduced fertilizer efficiency, and lower agricultural yields. This study aimed to evaluate the content of important soil microelements, such as zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn), and to analyze their relationship with agricultural crop producti...

Understanding the ability of plants to accumulate trace elements from soils is essential for environmental monitoring and phytoremediation studies. This research investigates the bioaccumulation capacity of the plant Amaranthus viridis and Chenopodium album in relation to the chemical composition of the soils in which it grows. Concentrations of trace elements including Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Co were determined in both plant tissues and corresponding soil samples. To evaluate the ability of the plant t...

The Topolnitsa River basin is a vulnerable agricultural area affected by mining and metallurgical pressure. Irrigation with surface waters and contrasting soil properties may increase secondary contamination. This study develops the Chemical Line of Evidence (Chem-LoE) within the TRIAD framework of an advisory system for ecological risk assessment. The focus is on riparian and floodplain agricultural soils, mainly alluvial-meadow and deluvial-meadow soils. Copper (Cu), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd) and arseni...

Arbuscular mycorrhiza, a widespread mutualistic association between fungi of the phylum Glomeromycota and plant roots, plays an important role in improving plant nutrition and tolerance to environmental stress. Through this symbiosis, fungi supply mineral nutrients and enhance resistance to drought and pathogens, while receiving assimilates from the host plant. This study was conducted on a commercial plantation of blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) in southwestern Slovakia. The plantation was inoculated with mycorr...

A health-friendly crop rotation system for soil is an essential tool for sustainable agriculture, especially in the context of achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal. Therefore, the research aims to assess the integration of three crops beneficial to soil health into the production of winter wheat and winter rapeseed every third year and their socio-economic and environmental impacts in Latvia. The research results revealed that crop rotation has a significant impact on the economy of farms, and only ...

This study evaluates the impact of NPK fertilization on soil chemical properties, nutrient dynamics, and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) yield under field conditions in Western Romania. The experiment was conducted on a chernozem soil, where different fertilization rates were applied to assess their influence on key soil parameters, including pH, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, exchangeable potassium, and selected microelements. Soil samples were collected at different growth stages of sunflower and analyze...

The influence of the noosphere on the natural environment is increasingly growing under modern conditions, which in many cases leads to critically dangerous consequences in terms of environmental pollution. The ecological situation is significantly worsened by phenolic compounds of exogenous origin, whose migration involves one of the primary stages – their physical absorption in soils. We investigated the adsorption peculiarities of phenol and m-cresol in Fluvisols distributed in Western Georgia. It was establi...

The paper aimed to present the quality of some soils from the West Region from Romania. The soil types who were studied occupied a surface of 4.013 ha in Arad Department. The main soil types who was founded in this area is Chernozems on 75.54% from the surface, Haplic Phaeozems on 2.43% from the studied surface, Pelosols on 7.66% from the surface, Vertisols on 13.15% from the surface, Gleysols on 0.36% from the surface and Solonetz on 0.86% from the studied surface. This paper presents a synthesis of the limiting ...

Soil resilience is known as the ability to resist and recover from exposure to contaminants, climate change, erosion, anthropogenic activities and intensive use of resources, in order to maintain vital processes such as nutrient cycling, water retention, and structural stability. To remediate the affected soils, several integrated strategies, including bioremediation, hydrological management and the use of amendments can be applied. The usage of natural amendments represents a sustainable path for improving soil p...

West Romania Banat high plains in the Pannonian Basin are low slope and wet. Block subsidence, loess, and river lake beds built a wide glacis belt cut by marshy vales. We mapped soils and limits in six plains from Vinga and the Bega Timis gulf to Gataia Tormac Moravita and Buzias Timis, 43 cadastral units, 346000 ha farm. Data follow Romanian soil taxonomy 2012 and were joined with relief from a digital elevation model, sediment maps, canal and dike maps, and climate means at Arad and Timisoara (T 10.4–10.8C; P ...

Mining activities can influence agricultural environments by altering potentially toxic elements (PTEs) concentrations in different environmental compartments, promoting their accumulation and generating potential exposure pathways. This study analyzed PTEs in agricultural soil and irrigation water in the Santa Rosa mining district, Ecuador. Fourteen soil samples were collected from agricultural farms, and ten water samples were obtained from a nearby canal used for crop irrigation. PTEs levels were measured by XR...

The aim of the work was to assess relation between the chemical composition of the biomass of cover crops and the intensity of its decomposition during the winter period. Parameters for 13 cover crop species included contents of soluble sugars, cellulose and lignin (ADL), on the basis of which derived indicators were calculated – Sugars/ADL ratio and lignocellulosic index (LCI). Biomass decomposition was assessed according to weight loss after winter exposure. Results showed a significant variability in the chem...

According to the European Environment Agency, soil is involved in providing more than 90% of the total production related to human nutrition, animal feed, textile fibers and fuels, while also providing the raw material for all kinds of other related activities, such as horticulture and construction. In order to monitor soil quality, it is necessary: common analyzes for all types of soils (with soil samples in disturbed and undisturbed structure) and typical soil analyzes (for soils: unsaturated with basic cations,...

Soil liming is an essential component of sustainable soil management, affecting both crop yields, nutrient uptake efficiency, and environmental quality. Therefore, the research aims to assess the economic and environmental efficiency of soil liming in Latvia. This research compared the economic and environmental efficiency of crushed lime and limestone flour in Latvia, analysing the costs, benefits, and impacts of a six-year liming cycle on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and phosphorus leaching. The research resul...

The generation of leachates containing heavy metals, salts, and organic contaminants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) makes municipal solid waste landfills a major contributor to soil and water degradation. Because traditional remediation techniques are often cost-prohibitive, sustainable approaches such as phytoremediation have gained considerable attention. This research investigates the efficacy of Paulownia tomentosa (Oxytree) in restoring soils impacted by landfill leachates. In a controlled green...