Phytometric Assessment of Fertility of Roadside Soils and Its Relationship with Major Nutrients

Roadside verges have obtained an important status in modem landscapes for conservation biodiversity, and their soils play a significant role in this regard. In designing more appropriate strategies for the integrated management of roadside habitats for nature conservation, the knowledge of physico-chemical characteristics of their associated soils is a prerequisite. The fertility of roadside soils in northern England was determined both by phytometric assessment using tomato plant and by chemical analyses of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate levels. By comparing levels of these nutrients with their published normal levels, it was found that these soils have sub-optimum to optimum levels of fertility. The results of phytometric assessment revealed that the soils have low to medium levels of fertility. The fertility exhibited a pattern of zonation in the roadside soils with an increase with increasing distance from paved roads. Three nutrients were correlated with phytometirc assessments, and it was found that only nitrogen had a significant correlation with results of phytometric assessment.