Features of transformation of soil properties of the arable land in Belarus
Based on the scientific systematic multi-temporal data and the large-scale soil mapping studies, for the first time we developed a methodological approach to estimating the transformation of the composition and properties of the arable land of the Republic for a 40-year period since the publication of the scientific work “The Soil of the Byelorussian SSR” (1974). At the present stage of the soil development, the transformation of the soil properties of the arable land, involved in the agricultural usage over the 40-year period, is influenced by the cultural process of soil formation and is characterized by the “strong” transformation of the properties in relation to their natural potential: in soils on loamy soil-forming rocks, the CTS value is varied in the range of 20–28 units, on sandy loam soil-forming rocks, СTS is 18–27, and on connected sandy loam soil-forming rocks it is 18–28. According to the research results on the soils of the arable land formed on light soil-forming rocks (sandy, loose-sandy), in contrast to loamy and heavier soil-forming rocks, the transformation degree of the properties is determined as “strong” and “very strong”. The results of the studies point to a clear dependence of the transformation degree of the properties of the gum-accumulative horizons of the studied soil varieties of the granulometric composition, which reflects the specific features of the soil cover of the Republic.