The influence of long-term cultivation on soil properties and patterns in an undulating terrain in Poland

Soil utilization has, for many years, strongly influenced the properties of soils in the undulating terrain of the Lublin Upland. Population increase and suitability of the soils (particularly Luvisols, Cambisols and Chernozems derived from loess and loess-like formations) for arable agriculture were the main reasons for deforestation. This led to erosion, which caused changes in soil morphology and the development of a mosaic soil cover. Accelerated erosion was strongest on slopes exceeding 18%. It resulted in selective loss of clay. The main changes in silty soils developed from loess and loess-like deposits occurred in the first few decades after cultivation started. They included a decrease in organic matter content from an average of 2.3% organic C in the forest soils to about 1% in the arable soils. No further changes in humus content were observed, but the proportion of fulvic acids increased at the expense of humic acids. The pHKCl rate decreased at the slope foot from about 5.8 to 5.0. Morphological changes in rendzinas were much lower than in the soils derived from loess. We do not expect big changes in these soils in the next 100 years if their use remains the same.