Classification of soils in Slovenia

The roots of the modern classification of soils in Slovenia can be traced to the 19^th century when Croatian Kišpatić produced the first soil classification, which included soils for the part of Slovenian territory. Since the beginning of the 20^th century until Slovenia's independence in 1991 soil classification was heavily interlinked to the territory of former Yugoslavia. Slovenia had been its integral part and the Yugoslavian Soil Classification developed together with Serbians, Croatians, Macedonians, Slovenians etc. The foundations have been set in the 50' and 60' when genetic approach was accepted and first concepts and papers have been published. In 70,' a project of intensive soil mapping and field surveying began and therefore grew the needs for the development of Yugoslavian Soil Classification. It was constantly developing, updating and being presented during numerous congresses of Yugoslav Soil Science Society until mid-80'. The highest level of soil classification was (is) the soil order, defined by the presence and action of water (automorphic, hydromorphic, saline and subaqueous). The orders were (are) divided to classes mainly on the bases of soil development (presence and sequence of genetic horizons, i.e. soil profile). The unit on the third and most important level was and still is a soil type (Soil division–Soil class–Soil type–Subtype–Variety–Form). They are distinguished by the presence of certain parent material or the occurrence of specific soil forming processes. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Slovenia adopted and retained the Yugoslavian concept and the activities related to the Slovenian Soil Classification simply continued. Today Slovenian soil classification has 27 major soil types and was adapted from Yugoslavian to the national needs and specifics. In a number of aspects it is similar to the German Soil Classification. In the past decade there is growing need for the improvement of the Slovenian soil classification that would apart from productivity, water holding capacity, organic matter content reflect also soil functions, sensitivity or resilience to environmental threats, ecosystem services etc. In spite of many efforts, no official document has been published yet. As a <i>Lingua Franca</i> Slovenian soil scientists use WRB. Slovenia got its official translation of the latest version of the WRB in 2018.