Undisturbed peatlands are effective carbon sinks and provide a variety of ecosystem services. However, anthropogenic disturbances, especially land drainage, strongly alter peat soil properties and jeopardize the benefits of peatlands. The effects of disturbances should therefore be assessed and predicted. To support accurate modeling, this study determined the physical and hydraulic properties of intact and disturbed peat samples collected from 59 sites (in total 3,073 samples) in Finland and Norway. The bulk density (BD), porosity, and specific yield (Sy) values obtained indicated that the top layer (0\uffe2\uff80\uff9330\uffc2\uffa0cm depth) at agricultural and peat extraction sites was most affected by land use change. The BD in the top layer at agricultural, peat extraction, and forestry sites was 441%, 140%, and 92% higher, respectively, than that of intact peatlands. Porosity decreased with increased BD, but not linearly. Agricultural and peat extraction sites had the lowest saturated hydraulic conductivity, Sy, and porosity, and the highest BD of the land use options studied. The van Genuchten\uffe2\uff80\uff90Mualem (vGM) soil water retention curve (SWRC) and hydraulic conductivity (K) models proved to be applicable for the peat soils tested, providing values of SWRC, K, and vGM\uffe2\uff80\uff90parameters (\uffce\uffb1 and n) for peat layers (top, middle and bottom) under different land uses. A decrease in peat soil water content of \uffe2\uff89\uffa510% reduced the unsaturated K values by two orders of magnitude. This unique data set can be used to improve hydrological modeling in peat\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated catchments and for fuller integration of peat soils into large\uffe2\uff80\uff90scale hydrological models.Nitrogen (N) leaching from spring barley with and without undersown Italian ryegrass was studied in Jokioinen, south-western Finland during five years (summer 1993–spring 1998) in 1.7 m deep lysimeters (\uffc3\uff980.9 m) filled to 1.1 m with clay, silt, sand and peat soil. Tillage was performed in mid- October or in May, before sowing of the barley and ryegrass for the next season. In the second, third and fourth years of the experiment, total N leaching from barley without undersown ryegrass was 15, 7.9,32 and 38 kg ha-1 y-1 in clay, silt, sand and peat soil, respectively. Undersowing reduced N leaching by 52,31,68 and 27%. The reduction in N leaching from clay and sand when barley was undersown with ryegrass was nearly the same as the increased total uptake of N (barley +ryegrass).In sand soil, ryegrass was able to diminish the NO 3-N concentration of the drainage water well below the limit for acceptable drinking water. Spring tillage reduced N leaching only on peat soil (16%). Slight competition between the main and the undersown crop was indicated by lower N contents of the barley yield.;
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "syysmuokkaus", "nitrate nitrogen", "S", "nitraattityppi", "Agriculture (General)", "barley", "Agriculture", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "yield", "lysimetri", "kokonaistyppi", "630", "maalajit", "S1-972", "primary tillage", "total nitrogen", "lysimeter", "soil type", "sato", "ohra", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Ka"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Lemola, Riitta, Turtola, Eila, Eriksson, Christian,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.5661"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Agricultural%20and%20Food%20Science", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.23986/afsci.5661", "name": "item", "description": "10.23986/afsci.5661", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.23986/afsci.5661"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2000-01-03T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10138/334890", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-10-06T16:22:14Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-06-21", "title": "Hydraulic and Physical Properties of Managed and Intact Peatlands: Application of the Van Genuchten\u2010Mualem Models to Peat Soils", "description": "AbstractUndisturbed peatlands are effective carbon sinks and provide a variety of ecosystem services. However, anthropogenic disturbances, especially land drainage, strongly alter peat soil properties and jeopardize the benefits of peatlands. The effects of disturbances should therefore be assessed and predicted. To support accurate modeling, this study determined the physical and hydraulic properties of intact and disturbed peat samples collected from 59 sites (in total 3,073 samples) in Finland and Norway. The bulk density (BD), porosity, and specific yield (Sy) values obtained indicated that the top layer (0\uffe2\uff80\uff9330\uffc2\uffa0cm depth) at agricultural and peat extraction sites was most affected by land use change. The BD in the top layer at agricultural, peat extraction, and forestry sites was 441%, 140%, and 92% higher, respectively, than that of intact peatlands. Porosity decreased with increased BD, but not linearly. Agricultural and peat extraction sites had the lowest saturated hydraulic conductivity, Sy, and porosity, and the highest BD of the land use options studied. The van Genuchten\uffe2\uff80\uff90Mualem (vGM) soil water retention curve (SWRC) and hydraulic conductivity (K) models proved to be applicable for the peat soils tested, providing values of SWRC, K, and vGM\uffe2\uff80\uff90parameters (\uffce\uffb1 and n) for peat layers (top, middle and bottom) under different land uses. A decrease in peat soil water content of \uffe2\uff89\uffa510% reduced the unsaturated K values by two orders of magnitude. This unique data set can be used to improve hydrological modeling in peat\uffe2\uff80\uff90dominated catchments and for fuller integration of peat soils into large\uffe2\uff80\uff90scale hydrological models.