Research Article

Chemical, Biochemical, and Microbiological Properties of Soils from Abandoned and Extensively Cultivated Olive Orchards

Table 1

Two-way ANOVA analysis of chemical properties of the soils studied (average values; ).

TreatmentSOM (g kg−1)Total N (g kg−1)C/NAvailable P (mg kg−1)pHElectric conductivity (μS cm−1)

ManagementP = 0.016P < 0.0001nsP < 0.0001P = 0.0002ns
 Managed27.7 b1.3 b12.2 a56.0 a7.9 a80.4 a
 Abandoned38.6 a1.9 a11.8 a31.5 b7.1 b70.0 a
Soil depthnsnsnsnsP = 0.0085ns
 0–20 cm33.2 a1.6 a12.0 a43.7 a7.5 a80.3 a
 20–40 cm33.1 a1.6 a12.0 a41.4 a7.4 b70.1 a
Management × soil depthnsnsnsnsP = 0.0017ns

ns: not significant; mean values followed by different letters are significantly different between the two management systems.