Effects of soil solarization on
phosphorus and on other soil constituents
A. F. M. A. Pinto1, A.
Césa2 E. Velázquez3, and L. R. Silva1
1Agrarian College
of Viseu, Portugal. 2Agrarian College of Bragança, PORTUGAL.3University
of Salamanca, SPAIN.
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Soil solarization, since the its conception, in Israel
in 1976, has been revealed as an efficacious control method of different weed
strains and some plant diseases caused by various soil fitopatogenic agents
(fungus, nematodes and bacterium) and some soil arthropods. However, early has
been described some side effects such as: increase in the growth and production
of crops; amelioration of the physical and biological soil conditions and some
chemical constituents.
In this work, we present the results obtained in Portugal, during one year, of the effects of soil solarization on Phosphorus and some levels of other chemical constituents of soil. In the case of the assimilable Phosphorus we observed no significant differences in both solarized and non solarized soils. Similar results were obtained in the Organic Matter and the Calcium and Sodium exchangeable bases. Curiously, we obtained a significant increase in the levels of Nitric and Amoniacal Nitrogen, Electrical Conductivity, assimilable and exchangeable Potassium and Magnesium in the solarized soils. On the other hand, we observed a decrease of the pH levels in the solarized soils.