The state of mineral constituents and potential pollutants in a “virgin” part of peatland Ždralovac, an abandoned reclamation area and after a peat fire

Tvica, Mirza (author), Jurković, Josip (author), Vasin, Jovica (author), Drkenda, Pakeza (author), Murtić, Senad (author), Musić, Osman (author)

Ždralovac peatland in the karst field Livanjsko polje in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina with an area of about 3.500 ha has always been drained and used for the regional people. But drainage, agriculture and climate change cause the peat drying in the summer and create the conditions for frequent fires and serious changes of peat properties. Since 1.000 ha of peatland was used for agriculture (abandoned areas for 25 years that are being cultivated again today), and the extracted peat is used as a raw material for the plant growing substrate. The presence of certain pollutants is a good indicator of the suitability of peat for the plant production. In this paper, the state of peat related to contamination with heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - PAHs and pesticide residues was investigated in undrained peat areas, reclamation areas and peat burning sites. The presence of heavy metals in concentrations higher than permitted was not recorded. The presence of combustion products PAHs was recorded on all surfaces, but only naphthaleneexceeds the permitted concen-trations of organic pollutants. Only pesticide residue of dichlo-rodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was recorded in abandoned meliorated areas used in agriculture, and the concentration ex-ceeded the level of uncontaminated land.

• Language: English
• Keywords: peatland, reclamation, fires, pollution
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 13 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 122, no. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-180369
• UDC: 633
• ISSN on article: 1854-1941
• DOI: 10.14720/aas.2026.122.1.18909
• COBISS.SI-ID: 270790659
• Publication date in RUL: 06.03.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Acta agriculturae Slovenica
• Publisher: Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za agronomijo in Oddelek za zootehniko, Biotehniška fakulteta, Oddelek za agronomijo in Oddelek za zootehniko, Univerza v Ljubljani, Biotehniška fakulteta, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 1854-1941
• COBISS.SI-ID: 219581184

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Stanje mineralne sestave in potencialnih onesnaževal v »deviškem« delu šotišča Ždralovac, opuščeno melioracijsko območje po požarih na šoti
• Keywords: šotišče, melioracija, požari, onesnaženje