The database of Polish arable mineral soils is presented. The database includes a lot of information about the basic properties of soils and their dynamic characteristics. It was elaborated for about 1 000 representative profiles of soils in Poland The database concerns: particle size distribution, organic carbon content, acidity-pH, specific surface area, hydrophobicity - solidliquid contact angle, static and dynamic hydrophysical properties, oxidation-reduction properties and selected biological (microbiological) properties of soils. Knowledge about soil characteristics is indispensable for description, interpretation and prediction of the course of physical, chemical and biological processes, and modelling these processes requires representative data. The utility of simulation and prediction models describing phenomena which take place in the soil-plant-atmosphere system greatly depends on the precision of data concerning characteristics of soil. On the basis of this database, maps of chosen soil properties are constructed. The aim of maps is to provide specialists in agriculture, ecology, and environment protection with an opportunity to gain knowledge of soil properties and their spatial and seasonal variability.

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Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seeds were soaked in aqueous 10 -4 M dihydroquercetin (DHQ) to examine its influence on seed germination and further growth of seedlings under optimal soil watering and flooding conditions. The adaptive potential of the plants was estimated by the content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs) and the activity of ascorbate peroxidase (AsP). High-grade seeds were germinated evenly under (-DHQ)-and (?DHQ)-treatments. Low-grade seeds soaked in DHQ, showed no mold and twofold germination rate in comparison with the same seeds soaked in water.The seedlings grown from the similarly germinated seeds did not differ from each other in the shoot growth, independent of the DHQ-pretreatment. The root growth was higher in DHQ-pretreated plants. Soil flooding suppressed the shoot and root growth rates in non-pretreated and DHQ-pretreated plants, however TBARs content was lower in the roots and leaves of (?DHQ)-seedlings as compared to the (-DHQ)-ones. The activity of AsP increased more significantly in the (?DHQ)-plants. The ratio between TBARs content and the AsP activity was lower in the leaves of (?DHQ)-plants both under optimal soil conditions and flooding. Thus, the treatment of low-grade barley seeds with DHQ protects the seeds against mold and increases adaptive potential of the seedlings.

Methane (CH4) production and consumption and soil respiration in loess soils collected from summit (Top), back slope (Middle), and slope bottom (Bottom) positions were assessed in laboratory incubations. The CH4 production potential was determined under conditions which can occur in the field (relatively short-term flooding periods with initially ambient O2 concentrations), and the CH4 oxidation potential was estimated in wet soils enriched with CH4. None of the soils tested in this study emitted a significant amount of CH4. In fact, the Middle and Bottom soils, especially at the depth of 20–40 cm, were a consistent sink of methane. Soils collected at different slope positions significantly differed in their methanogenic, methanotrophic, and respiration activities. In comparison with the Top position (as reference soil), methane production and both CO2 production and O2 consumption under flooding were significantly stimulated in the soil from the Middle slope position (P < 0.001), while they were reduced in the Bottom soil (not significantly, by 6 to 57%). All upper soils (0–20 cm) completely oxidized the added methane (5 kPa) during 9–11 days of incubation. Soils collected from the 20–40 cm at the Middle and Bottom slope positions, however, consumed significantly more CH4 than the Top soil (P < 0.001).

A b s t r a c t.The kinetic parameters of methane oxidation in three mineral soils were measured under laboratory conditions. Incubations were preceded by a 24-day preincubation with 10% vol. of methane. All soils showed potential to the consumption of added methane. None of the soils, however, consumed atmospheric CH 4 . Methane oxidation followed the Michaelis-Menten kinetics, with relatively low values of parameters for Eutric Cambisol, while high values for Haplic Podzol, and especially for Mollic Gleysol which showed the highest methanotrophic activity and much lower affinity to methane. The high values of parameters for methane oxidation are typical for organic soils and mineral soils from landfill cover. The possibility of the involvement of nitrifying microorganisms, which inhabit the ammonia-fertilized agricultural soils should be verified.K e y w o r d s: soil, methane oxidation, kinetic parameters, methanotrophic activity

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