Progressing climate change increases the frequency of droughts and the risk of the occurrence of forest fires with an increasing range and a dramatic course. The availability of water and its movement within an ecosystem is a fundamental control of biological activity and physical properties, influencing many climatic processes, whereas soil water repellency (SWR) is a key phenomenon affecting water infiltration into the soil system. Focusing on wide-spectrum effects of fire on the soil system, the research was conducted on a pine stand (Peucedano-Pinetum W. Mat. (1962) 1973) in Kampinos National Park located in central Poland, affected by severe and weak fires, as well as control plots. The main aim of the study was to examine the regeneration of the ecosystem 28 months after the occurrence of a fire. The effect of SWR and soil moisture content, total organic carbon, nitrogen and pH, and gain an understanding of the environmental conditions and processes that shaped the evolution of the species structure of soil microorganism communities (fungal vs. bacterial) have been examined. The Water Drop Penetration Time (WDPT) test was used to assess spatial variability of SWR in 28 plots. Soil bacterial and fungal communities were analysed by Illumina’MISeq using 16S rRNA and Internal Transcribed Spacers 1 (ITS1) regions in six selected plots. After a relatively wet summer, elevated hydrophobicity occurred in areas affected by a weak fire as much as 20 cm into the soil depth. The severe fire and subsequent increase in the richness of the succession of non-forest species contributed to the elimination of hydrophobicity. SWR was more closely linked to the structure and diversity of soil microbial communities than soil physicochemical properties that took place in response to the fire. A statistically significant relationship between the relative occurrence of microorganisms (≥ 1.0% in at least one of the samples) and SWR was established for the following fungi and bacteria species: Archaeorhizomyces sp., Leotiomycetes sp., Byssonectria fusispora, Russula vesca, Geminibasidium sp., family Isosphaeraceae and Cyanobacteria (class 4C0d-2, order MLE1-12). Insight into the functional roles of the individual identified microbial taxa that may be responsible for the occurrence of hydrophobicity was also presented.

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The aim of the study was to determine the levels of soil mineral elements in groundwater and the volume of that water draining from fields under different fertilization systems. In 2011, drainage systems were installed to collect groundwater from selected plots of long-term fertilization experiments located at the Experimental Station of the Faculty of Agriculture and Biology of Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW in Skierniewice. The study involved limed (CaNPK) and unlimed (NPK) plots of two fertilization experiments, one with mineral and the other with mineral-organic fertilization. During the study, the volume of the drainage water was measured and samples of the water were analyzed for Ca, Mg, K, Na, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and Al. The levels of mineral elements in the water flowing out of the soil profile were found to vary significantly and were dependent on the volume of the outflow, the system of fertilization and soil acidification. The load of elements in the outflow water can be put in the following relative order: Ca>Mg>K>Na>Al>Zn>Fe>Mn>Cu. Application of manure in the dose of fertilizers increased the leaching of magnesium and potassium, as well as zinc, iron and manganese. However, organic fertilization did not increase the leaching of calcium from the soil, and reduced the activity and mobility of aluminium in the soil. Depending on the fertilization system and soil acidification status, the amounts of elements washed out with 1 m 3 of water flowing out of ha a sandy soil were: 186434 g Ca, 12.633 g Mg, 13.280 g K, 9.323.4 g Na, 29.5251 mg Al, 53184 mg Zn, 24.5319 mg Fe, and 2076.5 mg Mn.

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The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the efficiency of agricultural production and selected parameters of farms and data describing the flow of nutrients on the farms. An analysis model was developed for nitrogen management on farms specializing in livestock production. The study was conducted on 20 farms located in 12 municipalities of the Mazowieckie province in central Poland in 2009.2012. The model was developed using multiple linear regression analysis in accordance with the backward stepwise method. Based on the regression analysis, the farm parameters that did not determine the dependent variable were eliminated. In the end, there were 10 independent variables included in the model. The model indicates that the efficiency of nitrogen management, expressed in cereal units per 1 kg of nitrogen (CU·kg-1 N), is significantly affected by: crop rotation, the demand for purchasing animal feed, the intensity of livestock production, the nitrogen content of farmyard manure, the nitrogen doses applied in mineral and natural fertilizers, and nitrogen outflow from farms with the sale of plant and animal products. The developed model explains 70% of the variation in the coefficient of efficiency expressed in cereal units per 1 kg N.