External impacts of soils as considered with the example of slovakia

Background, Aims and Scope  Being an integral part of nature, soil affects all main natural resources and is simultaneously affected by them. This is due to soil management practices (agriculture, forestry) and to the leaching and emission of soil substances. Soil affects mainly water resources and the open air. In this work, soil nitrate production as a possible cause for nitrate leaching and nitrogen emission from soil into the air was determined and generalized. CO₂ emissions from soil into the air were quantified as well. All data were generalized and evaluated. Methods  The data were obtained by analyzing samples taken from nine different soils in Slovakia during 3 years. Results and Discussion  Between 30 and 50 kg of nitrate nitrogen were produced in non-N-fertilized soils during the growing season. Application of fertilizer N yielded 50 to 90 kg N-NO₃-. About 111 thousand tons of N-NO₃ are produced yearly in all non-N-fertilized agricultural soils in Slovakia. On the average, about 10,061 thousand tons of C-CO₂ can be produced in the soil cover during the growing season (about 4.2 tons of C-CO₂ per ha). Recommendation and Outlook  Published data suggest that it is necessary to decrease soil nitrate production and to reduce CO₂ emissions from soils. The data also attest to a very high level of external effects of soil, including negative effects accelerated mainly by human activities.