Assessment of Cambisol agriculture health development on various substrates in Slovakia

Abstract

The quantification and evaluation of the Soil Health Index (SHI) represent key drivers of the sustainable development of human activities within the framework of natural capital. The SHI serves as a quantitative tool for assessing soil health based on ecosystem service provision, while also enabling the identification of the principal soil-related and socioeconomic factors that influence its variability. This study aimed to examine differences and establish reference values for groups of Cambisols developed on different parent materials and under different land uses (arable land and grassland). The proposed reference values constitute the first set of soil health metrics of this kind in Slovakia, based on data collected from 84 locations. The SHI was constructed as a linear combination of scores assigned to individual indicators. No statistically significant differences in SHI values among Cambisol groups developed on different parent materials were detected. Difference in SHI values was observed only between arable land and grassland within Cambisols developed on crystalline rocks. No statistically significant differences in SHI values were observed among the three climatic regions Pairwise comparisons showed that SHI values in the very warm climate region were significantly different from those in both warm and moderately warm climate regions. Altitude also has a significant impact on the SHI value. A strong positive correlation between SHI and altitude was observed (r = 0.92 for arable land and r = 0.93 for grasslands).

Keywords: ecosystem services, soil health index, Cambisols, substrate