Soil structure of arable and non‐arable land in the Western Siberian Grain Belt in Russia—Application of the soil fingerprint code for topsoil characterization

Soil structure is a key indicator for soil quality. Often, a degradation of the soil structure is the result of inappropriate land management. This investigation was carried out in the Western Siberian forest steppe, because soil degradation is an important issue in this part of the Siberian Grain Belt. Therefore, soil structure and further soil properties were examined in the vicinity of the city of Tyumen, Russia. Arable and non‐arable sites were compared by means of the soil fingerprint code (SFC). With SFC the soil surface conditions, chemical and physical parameters of the topsoil were recorded and evaluated in two depths: 0–5 cm and 5–30 cm. The suitability of the SFC to quantify changes of the soil structure of the topsoil was tested. The SFCs of arable and non‐arable sites show that soil structure deteriorates due to arable use. The percentage of granular aggregates decreases and the percentage of subangular blocky and angular blocky aggregates increases. Furthermore, ploughing leads to strong clod formation. Differences in soil structure between 0–5 cm and 5–30 cm soil depth were smaller at arable sites in comparison to non‐arable sites. It was ascertained the SFC is suitable to quantify changes of the soil structure.