Evaluación de la calidad del suelo agrícola de la comunidad García Moreno, cantón Francisco de Orellana, provincia de Orellana

Abstract

The present research as main economic activity in the community García Moreno has been agriculture, including coffee, cacao, corn, and bananas, which are grown for sale and family consumption. However, population and agricultural growth, the type of soil and oil activity have caused severe restrictions for development. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of agricultural soil through physical-chemical analysis in the community García Moreno, canton Francisco de Orellana. In order to improve the productivity of crops in the area. The methodology implemented had a qualitative approach, using the 7 indicators established within the Minimum Data Set (MDS), 5 of which were evaluated by calculating an index; and in turn, 4 additional parameters were chosen (color, moisture, micronutrients, and heavy metals), since they also exert restrictions on crop yields. Based on the calculation of quality index, it was determined that the soils of farms F2 (0.3), F3 (0.3), F4 (0.3) have low quality; F1 (0.4), F6(0.4), F7(0.5) and F8 (0.4) moderate quality; and F5 (0.7) high quality. However, if to this is added the presence of toxic levels of heavy metals and micronutrients such as iron and manganese, the environmental quality is reduced. In this context, it was concluded that, according to the categorization of soil quality used in this work, the eight farms sampled are not suitable for agricultural use, therefore, a proposal for agricultural restoration was developed to improve soil quality for agro-productive purposes.