o:5911 Aggregate composition and stability of soil structure of rankers from mt. Maljen, Serbia en Abstract: Soil structure is the natural organization of soil particles into different forms under the influence of pedogenic processes. The aim of this work is to determine the soil structure of ranker soils on Mount Maljen by analyzing the aggregate composition and water stability of structural aggregates, and to evaluate the soil structure using various soil aggregation indices. Thirteen soil profiles were studied and classified as ranker according to the national soil classification system. The following soil structure indices were determined: dry and wet mean weight diameter (dMWD and wMWD), dry and wet geometric mean diameter (dGMD and wGMD), structural stability index (SI), and structural coefficient (Kstr). The favorable aggregate composition of the studied ranker is illustrated by the wMWD/dMWD ratio of 0.81±0.10, the values of SI > 9% and Kstr > 2 in all soil profiles. The results indicate that the studied soils have favorable structure, high water stability and low risk of structural degradation, but various linear erosion processes observed in the field indicate that the study area is degraded and that soil structure is not the only factor stabilizing soil erosion. Soil structure, Rankers, aggregate composition, structural indices, soil degradation 2024-10-31T07:59:19.837Z 44 no 46 Vojislav Lazović Institute of Soil Science 0000-0003-3926-118X 46 Marija Ćosić Faculty of Agriculture University of Belgrade 46 Boško Gajić Faculty of Agriculture University of Belgrade 46 Mira Milinković Institute of Soil Science 0000-0001-5175-6842 46 Biljana Sikirić Institute of Soil Science 0000-0002-8308-4582 46 Ljubomir Životić Faculty of Agriculture University of Belgrade application/pdf 2204713 https://unilib.phaidrabg.rs/o:5911 no yes 1 70 92000004 71A05 Book of Proceedings: "THE ENVIRONMENT - RESEARCH, CHARGE, ADMINISTRATION" Vol. III/2023, Craiova, România, 15-16 June 2023. 2023