Ergebnisse der Anwendung einer neuen Humusbilanzmethode in Dauerfeldversuchen

Summary

Humus balance methods aim at the assessment of humus reproduction in cropping
systems as an effect of cropped plant species and management. They do not intend to
predict actual humus dynamics, which are strongly dependent on land-use history and
environmental site conditions. Therefore, the validation of humus balance methods is
a methodical challenge. This paper presents results from the validation of a new
method for humus balancing with different approaches. The first validation approach is
relating humus balance saldi to humus content development in long-term field
experiments. The second approach is relating humus balance saldi differences
between field experiment treatments under similar site conditions to differences in
humus dynamics indicators. In both validations the model performed satisfactory.
Compared to standard humus balance methods applied in organic farming, the new
method proved comparable quality in the validation. However, there is a clear demand
for methodical improvement of validation approaches for humus balance methods.