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

Abstract

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