The paper attempts to assess the conventional agriculture practices upon the soil physical, chemical and biological state in two areas within SA AGROTERRA Agigea, Constanţa. Field research has been undertaken on significantly different technology systems applied over a long period of time and benefiting of a consistent agro-environment history record. The investigation seeked also to the identification of dominant soil quality degradation processes in the studied areas and perimeters as well as a selection of some simple and flexible indicators for soil quality evaluation within a PNCD-2 Project 51-047 „Agri-environmental technologies, soil conservation, soil quality indices, friendly practices for environment, ecological agriculture-TACME”.The plots selected for investigation belong to a significant sized agricultural holding with a prior experience of implementing soil conservation practices. Conservation tillage is a widely used terminology to generally characterize the development of new crop production technologies that are normally associated with some degree of tillage reductions, for both pre-plant as well as in season mechanical weed control operations that may result in some level of crop residue retention on the soil surface.The soil sampling was done in 2008, and a wide range of laboratory analyses were performed. The analytical determinations included physical analyses (particle size distribution, bulk density, porosity, hydro stability, permeability etc), chemical analyses (reaction, organic carbon, macro- and micro- nutrients, organic matter etc), biological analyses (colonies of micro fungi and bacteria, mass of earthworms etc) and mineralogical analyses (content of clay minerals in the clay).The characteristic soils in the investigated areas are Chernozems aged on loess deposits, with an average medium size texture. Whilst the chemical indicators reveal a low to moderate soil supply with nutrients to crops and the microbiological data show a satisfactory lavel of activity in the soil, the values of the physical indicators emphasize a moderate suitable hidric regime, a slightly trend for soil layering, a high risk for the emerge of destruction – due to both natural environmental features as well the continuing intensification of the technologies applied.

conventional agricultural technology; soil state; impact

Presentation: oral