CHARAKTERISTICS OF SELECTED TYPES OF COMPOSTS AND THEIR IMPACT ON SOIL

With the advent of excessive amounts of mineral fertilizers in conventional agriculture, soil degradation in Europe has been occurring. Excessive use of mineral fertilizers also carries risks for surface water and groundwater. Therefore it is necessary to increase the use of organic fertilizers, such as compost. Correct application of compost into soil can improve physicochemical properties of the soil, it improves the activity of soil microorganisms and it also affects soil fertility. The assessment of the impact of composts must be based on appropriate criteria. In this work composts and control soil are assessed on the basis of microbial composition, amount of soil organic matter and phytotoxicity test.