SOIL QUALITY EVALUATION IN TROPICAL AGROECOSYSTEMS OF XALAPA AND EMILIANO ZAPATA IN THE STATE OF VERACRUZ, MEXICO.

Abstract

Assessing the quality of agricultural soils is decisive in order to have ecosystem notions about their health and promote their functionality and productivity. For this, it is important to take into account the condition of its physical, chemical and biological properties, which can be estimated through indicators of rapid, accessible and understandable evaluation, especially for small farmers who do not usually carry out these processes due to economic limitations and disjointed vision between soil health and its productivity. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of the soil of cultivated plots in tropical ecosystems of the center of Veracruz, through the taking of samples based on the technique described by NOM-021 RECNAT, use of a visual evaluation guide and methods such as cylinder, electrometric, TSBF, porchet, and hydrogen peroxide oxidation. As a result, the quality of the evaluated soils was mostly poor; the two plots cultivated with Persian lemon reached an index with a value of 11 and 14 points respectively, while the plots cultivated with chayote and zucchini had indices of 13 and 18 points. A systemic and holistic vision is important in which the relevance of the soil for agricultural production is considered