Ivanka Lyubenova, Zornitsa Mitreva, Maria Ivanova and Irena Atanassova
Agricultural Academy, Institute of Soil Science, Agrotechnologies and Plant Protection “Nikola Poushkarov”, 1080 Sofia, Bulgaria
Lyubenova, I., Mitreva, Z., Ivanova, M. & Atanassova, I. (2024). Agroecological potential and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping in the region of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria (Part I). Characteristics of the ecological factors. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 30(5), 797–806
Relief, climate and soils in the lands of the villages of Edrevo and Panicherevo, Stara Zagora region, Bulgaria were examined. A geographic information system (GIS), including the collected information, and spatial visualization of soil data and main soil characteristics was carried out in the form of a soil map and thematic maps of soil texture (physical clay content in %), humus content (%) and soil acidity (pH). A greater part of the agricultural land is occupied by Cinnamon forest soils, a total of 1720.56 ha, of which 1012.43 ha are strongly leached to slightly podzolized with varying degrees of erosion and 708.12 ha are undeveloped and shallow soils. The rest of the agricultural lands are from Alluvial (Deluvial) – meadow soils – 930.29 ha. The detailed description of the soil-climatic conditions was applied in determining the credit rating and category of the lands in the investigated lands (part II).