In flooded soil, typical for the pre-germinated production system,
soil chemical degradation only started to become significant
under reduced conditions. Redox potentials decrease under anaerobic
conditions in the presence of organic matter, which may lead
to toxic Fe levels in the soil solution after a few weeks of flooding
[43]. In this study, farmers observed that soil quality decreases:
the soils become more acid, leading to iron toxicity, increasing soil
compaction and reducing soil life. This is in line with research findings
from countries in Africa and from Sri Lanka [44,45] where low
pH values and iron toxicity were found in valley bottoms. Problems
were also associated with poor nutrient condition, which was also
found in our case.