Soil quality assessment for olive groves areas of MenderesDistrict, Izmir-Turkey

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine assessment of soil quality for olive groves areas ofAkçaköy, Çatalca, Efemçukuru, Görece and Yeniköy villages in Menderes district of IzmirTurkey. The surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were taken from 19 olive groves areas ofMenderes District. Soil physical and chemical quality indicators were analyzed and classifiedin 4 suitability classes for olive production. In olive groves areas, soil reaction (pH) gavepositive correlations with clay, exch. Ca, CaCO3 contents, and significant negative correlationswith sand, available Fe, Mn and Zn contents. Soil organic matter (OM) content showedsignificant positive correlations with EC, P, exch. Ca and a significant negative correlationwith bulk density. Electrical conductivity (EC) values gave significant positive correlationswith clay, OM, exch. Ca contents. Soil quality index values for the olive groves areas rangedbetween 0.44 and 0.77 with a mean of 0.60. The olive groves areas at Akçaköy and Çatalcavillages of Menderes District were generally suitable for olive production. According to thesoil quality index (SQI) values, only one of the 19 olive groves areas was found in verysuitable (S1:1.00-0.75) class, the other areas were classified as 8 in suitable (S2:0.75-060), 6in marginal suitable (S3:0.60-0.50) and 4 in non-suitable (N: