Erodibility factor in soils of Albania

• Published in: Albanian journal of agricultural sciences 2017-01, p.111-119
• Main Authors: Mziu, Pranvera, Lekaj, Oliver, Gjongecaj, Besnik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon; Organic soils; Physical properties; Soil erosion; Soil permeability; Water conservation
• ISSN: 2218-2020

Even when the soil organic matter is considered as a factor determining the soil erodibility, it really means that it is not the organic matter itself under consideration, but instead, its role to attach soil particles with each other and produce soil structure, or, which is the same thing, a better resistance to erosive power of water. What is not within this general agreement, so what divides the scientists in this area of research, is the nature of the relationship between the soil factors and soil erodibility; or even more than that, the number of soil factors should be considered in the regression analysis for determining the type of equation [2] and the determination coefficient of the regression equation. In spite of all of these efforts, the Wischmeier equation, [6, 7] seems clearly to be the most realistic one, because it considers all the possible soil factors affecting the soil erodibility, which, in Wischmeier soil loss equation, is represented by K. Therefore, as in specific equations the soil texture is considered to be the only factor affecting the magnitude of K factor; or in some other equations the soil structure is already added to the soil texture to quantify the K factor; in the Wischmeier equation four soil factors are considered: soil texture, soil structure, soil permeability and soil organic matter. Organic matter (%) = Total organic carbon (%) x 1.72 (2) knowing that, more or less, in normal conditions, the organic matter contains about 58% carbon, C. fp is the particle factor, or otherwise expressed as a product of: fp = (%silt + %very fine sand) (% of other particles except clay) (3) S is soil structure code, which is taken as it is shown in the following table (Table. 1): P is soil permeability code, which is taken as it is indicated in the following table (Table.2): In order to arrange a better-organized presentation of data throughout Albania, each location where the measurements are done will represented by a code.