Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Zeitschriften
DOI 10.1002/jpln.201200137
Titel (primär) Humus balancing in Central Europe-concepts, state of the art, and further challenges
Autor Brock, C.; Franko, U.; Oberholzer, H.-R.; Kuka, K.; Leithold, G.; Kolbe, H.; Reinhold, J.
Quelle Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science
Erscheinungsjahr 2013
Department BOPHY
Band/Volume 176
Heft 1
Seite von 3
Seite bis 11
Sprache englisch
Keywords humus balance; soil organic matter; soil productivity; methodology
UFZ Querschnittsthemen RU1
Abstract Humus-balancing methods are simple tools for the assessment of interactions between agricultural
land use and soil organic matter (SOM). Aside from this commonality, approaches for
humus balancing differ considerably with regard to their specific aim, scope, and methodical
approach. The term “humus balance” covers both simple models to quantify SOM change in arable
soils, or soil organic C (SOC) change in particular, and models that refer to the optimization
of soil productivity in arable soils by calculating organic-fertilizer demand, without quantifying
SOM or SOC change. This situation naturally has caused much discussion and misunderstandings.
Against this background, the aim of this review is to systematically explore the different
methodical approaches to humus balancing in order to contribute to a more sophisticated discussion
of this model family, its opportunities, and limitations. As humus balancing has long history
as well as special actual relevance in Germany, and, lately Switzerland, we focus on these
countries and discuss the different approaches that are presently available and applied there.
We argue that humus balances can be roughly categorized into “ecological” and “agronomical”
approaches based on their specific concepts and methodology. Ecological humus balances
comprise a strong link to quantitative SOM change, while humus balances of the agronomical
family refer to the maintenance of soil productivity without a quantitative link to SOM change.
Lately, some models have been presented that link the two concepts. However, we identify that
humus-balancing methods often are insufficiently validated, partly because the validation of
agronomical humus balances is not easily possible without a very comprehensive field-experimental
basis. Further, the comparability of different approaches even within the two concept
families is low at present, indicating the need for a comparative model evaluation for a proper
assessment of the methods.
dauerhafte UFZ-Verlinkung https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=13435
Brock, C., Franko, U., Oberholzer, H.-R., Kuka, K., Leithold, G., Kolbe, H., Reinhold, J. (2013):
Humus balancing in Central Europe-concepts, state of the art, and further challenges
J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci. 176 (1), 3 - 11 10.1002/jpln.201200137