ASSESSMENT OF LAND QUALITY USING ECOPEDOLOGICAL INDICATORS - JEBEL AREA, TIMI COUNTY, ROMANIA

The studied area is placed in North-East Jebel locality. Based on the physical and chemical characteristics and soil morphology profile, the following types of soil were identified: typical preluvosol, typical and gleyic eutricambosols, luvic solonet, gleysol, gleyic vertisol and gleyic-stagnic vertisol. The assessment of land quality (fertility) was determined by bonitation. For the notes of bonitation calculation, the following ecopedological indicatories have been used: annual medium temperature, annual medium precipitations, depth of the underground water, texture in Ap horizon, gleization, pseudogleization, salinization, edafic volume, porosity, soil reaction (pH), humus reserve and content of CaCO3. The way that these indicators influence the notes of bonitation is different from a type of soil to another and the use of land. Thus, for grassland, typical preluvosol, the note of bonitate is 81 and it’s included in class II of quality (favorability), luvic solonet with 63 points in class IV of quality, typical eutricambosols with 58 points and vertisol with 57 points, in class V of quality, gleysol with 32 points and gleyic eutricambosol with 36 points, in class VII of quality. In case of using the land for growing maize, we have the following: typical preluvosol with 90 points which is in class II of quality, typical eutricambosol with 54 points and gleyic vertisol with 60 points, in class V of quality, luvic solonet with 49 points in class VI of quality, gleyic-stagnic vertisol with 35 points, in class VII of quality, gleysol with 24 points and gleyic eutricambosol with 29 points, in class VIII of quality. The notes of bonitation calculation, including them in the favorability classes, showed up that lands from Jebel area are good and very good quality, exception those that develop on gleysol and gleyic eutricambosols soils.