ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Phytometric Assessment of Fertility of Roadside Soils and Its Relationship with Major Nutrients
Khalid Farooq Akbar1, William H. G. Hale2, Božena Šerá3, Iffat Ashraf4
 
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1Department of Botany, Government Post-graduate College, Sahiwal, Pakistan
2Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK
3Department of Nanobiotechnology, Institute of Nanobiology and Structural Biology GCRC AS CR,
České Budějovice, Czech Republic
4Department of Environmental Sciences, GC University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan
 
 
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(5):1141-1145
 
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ABSTRACT
Roadside verges have obtained an important status in modern landscapes for conservation biodiversity, and their soils play a significant role in this regard. In designing more appropriate strategies for the integrated management of roadside habitats for nature conservation, the knowledge of physico-chemical characteristics of their associated soils is a prerequisite. The fertility of roadside soils in northern England was determined both by phytometric assessment using tomato plant and by chemical analyses of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate levels. By comparing levels of these nutrients with their published normal levels, it was found that these soils have sub-optimum to optimum levels of fertility. The results of phytometric assessment revealed that the soils have low to medium levels of fertility. The fertility exhibited a pattern of zonation in the roadside soils with an increase with increasing distance from paved roads. Three nutrients were correlated with phytometirc assessments, and it was found that only nitrogen had a significant correlation with results of phytometric assessment.
eISSN:2083-5906
ISSN:1230-1485
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