TITLE:
Agricultural Soil and Water Quality Assessment and CO2 Storage on Wetland Reserve
AUTHORS:
Pieranna Servadio, Simone Bergonzoli
KEYWORDS:
Soil; Water; Wetlands; Organic Agriculture; Conventional Agriculture
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.4 No.4A,
April
30,
2013
ABSTRACT: In this paper, investigations on agricultural and forestry soil and on water quality assessment were carried out in a natural wetlands reserve, at valley of a mountain, near at the sea and under hydraulic risk (the coast of the Etruschis), in central Italy; Physical-chemical parameters were measured by taking samples of soil on two fields cultivated with an artichoke bed and respectively managed with organic and conventional techniques adjacent the natural wetlands reserve and destined to a controlled development of the agriculture, to protect the reserve. These parameters were also measured on forestry soil inside the reserve and CO2 storage on soil was evaluated. The water chemical analysis of the two ponds inside the reserve was also carried out. The soil managed with organic farming has showed higher chemical fertility. Both organic and conventional field showed high level of soil compaction susceptibility evidenced by high values of penetration resistance and shear strength; while porosity and hydraulic conductivity presented low values. The research highlights that the ecological land use can influence and improve the environmental quality. In fact thanks to the higher organic matter content into the soil, the average values of stored CO2 show that the organic (ΔCOT = 1200 kg·ha–1) and forestry (ΔCFT =2200 kg·ha–1·year–1) treatments have stored higher amount of organic carbon in the soil with respect to the conventional one. Organic matter and dry bulk density can be considered good indicators of the soil quality. The results of the water chemical analysis show a good quality of the brackish water of the ponds situated in the wetlands reserve.