Atributos químicos de suelos argiudoles cultivados y no cultivados del departamento Las Colonias (Santa Fe)

during the last decade, the soil use intensification, the high nutrient extraction rates and the excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer have increased the degradation of santa fe soils. the objective of this study was to quantify the differences among cultivated soils (sc) and their respective non-cultivated situations (snc) for diverse chemical and biological attributes. the following properties were evaluated in typical and aquic argiudolls of the center of santa fe:,organic matter (mo), ph, exchangeable bases (calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium) and cation exchange capacity (cec) in two depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm). the comparison between snc and sc showed that, in both depths, a decrease took place of the values of mo (near 30%), calcium (20%), magnesium (30%) and ph (up to 0,6 units in the 0-15 cm layer). the exchangeable potassium and the cation exchange capacity showed significant decreases in sc compared to snc only in the 0-15 cm layer. the actual content of k corresponds to 64% of the original value. the exchangeable sodium was the only chemical parameter that did not show a significant alteration due to the soil use. the results of this study confirm that the argiudolls of the center of santa fe suffered a significant change in some of their properties in relation to their natural situation.