Characteristics of aeration properties of selected soil profiles from Central Europe

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to characterise soil structure from the point of view of its aeration properties and to verify applicability of some methods for the determination of different properties related to aeration. The studies were performed on 15 representative soil samples from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The paper presents results of measurements of different soil aeration properties such as oxygen diffusion rate (ODR), redox potential (Eh), relative gas diffusion coefficient (D/D o ), air permeability (k), air-filled porosity (Eg) and activity of soil dehydrogenase and catalase. All the aeration parameters such as D/D o , ODR, k were correlated with soil water content, air-filled porosity, bulk density and particle density. In most cases the aeration indicators themselves were also intercorrelated. The activity of both studied enzymes was correlated with some of the aeration parameters. Threshold values of soil physical conditions providing satisfactory aeration status in particular soil profiles were determined.