Determination of change in carbon fractions and some physiochemical properties of organic and conventional production agricultural soils

Excessive use of fertilizers, irregular irrigation and deep tillage methods in the past have led to the search for solutions in order to save the soils that have deteriorated over time. For this reason, with the emergence of environmental problems, organic agriculture, which is a more environmentally friendly way in agricultural production, has started to become widespread. In this study, disturbed and undisturbed soil samples taken from each of 14 organic farming and 14 traditional farming areas were examined in 3 replications in order to reveal the effects created by both farming systems. Soil samples where organic agricultural production is carried out were taken from Çıralı region of Antalya, while soil samples where conventional agricultural production was carried out were taken from Antalya Çakırlar region. As a result of the analysis, it was observed that the organic carbon, C/N ratio, microbial biomass-C values of the soils in the organic agricultural production system were higher than the soils under the conventional agricultural system. However, it was determined that the CaCO3, potassium and calcium contents of the soils in the organic agricultural production system were lower than the soils under the traditional agricultural production system. In terms of analysed soil parameters, statistically significant (P<0.0001) differences were observed in all parameters between organic and conventional agricultural production systems. KEYWORDS: Organic agriculture, Conventional agriculture, Carbon, Soil productivity