Chemical and Biological Properties of Soils Converted from Paddies and Uplands to Organic Ginseng Farming System in Sangju Region

In recent years, organic ginseng cultivation has increased because customers prefer organic ginseng products due to the morphological quality as well as the safety such as the residuals of chemically-synthesized pesticides. Therefore, some of paddy and upland fields were converted into organic ginseng fields. Soil chemical properties, soil microflora, and soil-inhabiting animals were investigated in paddy-converted and upland organic ginseng fields in Sangju city, Korea. There was few difference in the soil chemical properties, and the soil nutrient concentrations, such as nitrate-N, Av. $P_2O_5$ between the two field types, and exchangeable cations such as K and Ca were within the ranges which are recommended by the standard ginseng-farming manual. Changes in microflora were also assessed by analyzing phospholipid fatty acid composition. Overall, indicators of microbial groups were greater in the upland field than in the paddy-converted soil, but they were not significantly different. In addition, there was no significant change in the abundance of nematodes, collembolans, and mites between the two field types probably because of the high variation within the field types. In this study, it was suggested that soil chemical and biological properties for organic ginseng cultivation were greatly influenced by the variation of topography and soil management practices rather than field types. Further study may be needed to investigate the influence of these factors on soil chemical and biological properties in organic ginseng soils.