The Department of Soil Science was established in 1919 as one of the first units of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Poznań. It was located in a villa at Mazowiecka 42 Street. The building (which was probably built in 1896) was purchased by the University from a German owner who left for Germany after the war. In 1920, the Department – based on the initiative of Professor Feliks Terlikowski – developed a plant growth facility, which made it possible to carry out a wide range of research on mineral fertilizers and their impact on plants. In the 1930s, the Department was expanded by the addition of a chemical laboratory, which was built in the vicinity of the plant growth facility at Podlaska 12/14 Street.
The first Head of the Department, who organized didactics and research in the field of soil science and agricultural chemistry (more specifically plant nutrition), was Professor Feliks K. Terlikowski. He was born on January 13, 1885 in Łowicz, graduated from the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Geneva, where he specialized in chemistry and mineralogy. In 1909, he was appointed assistant in analytical chemistry, and in 1910 he obtained his doctorate in chemistry at the same university. In 1911, he returned to Poland and took the position of an assistant, and later assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural Chemistry of the Agricultural Academy in Dublany. He graduated from agricultural studies in 1914 and he was appointed Associate Professor of Soil Science in 1917.
At the end of August 1919, Prof. Terlikowski moved to Poznań, where he organized and developed the Department of Soil Science at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry in the University of Poznań. He was the Head of the Department of Soil Science between 1919–1951. During this period, he educated a large number of research and teaching staff as graduates of agriculture, forestry and chemistry. From 1920, Prof. Terlikowski carried out well-documented research, which developed in three directions:
1) soil cartography in connection with soil genesis and classification,
2) soil fertility and productivity, and
3) fertilization — the mechanism of action of individual fertilizing products and the properties of the diverse forms of fertilization in various soil conditions.
During the interwar period, Prof. Terlikowski educated or promoted many well-known Polish soil scientists, who later became the heads of significant centers of soil science or agricultural chemistry in Poland.
They were:
Prof. K. Boratyński (Agricultural Academy in Wrocław - agricultural chemistry)
Prof. A. Byczkowski (Scientific Institute of Rural Agriculture in Puławy and Bydgoszcz Branch of the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation)
Prof. B. Kuryłowicz (Warsaw University of Life Sciences – plant nutrition)
Prof. M. Kwinichidze (Agricultural Academy in Poznań — soil science)
Prof. A. Musierowicz (Warsaw University of Life Sciences — soil science)
Prof. J. Tomaszewski (Agricultural Academy in Wrocław — soil science)
Prof. T. Włoczewski (Warsaw University of Life Sciences — forest management)
Prof. J. Marszewska-Ziemięcka (Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation in Puławy — soil microbiology).
In the post-war period, Prof. Terlikowski supervised the doctoral theses of M. Hoffmann (later Head of the Department of Soil Science and Plant Fertilization at the Faculty of Horticulture) and B. Reimann (later Head of the Department of Soil Science at the Faculty of Agriculture) at the Agricultural University in Poznań.
In the post-war period, Prof. Terlikowski returned from Puławy, where he had worked as a researcher during the German occupation, and continued his research from the interwar period. He organized didactics and, above all, created conditions for the scientific development of numerous young staff. At that time, many young workers were hired — graduates of forestry or agriculture. The majority of the graduates obtained positions as independent scientists, mostly as professors, often heading the Departments of Soil Science in Poznań or other university centers (S. Borowiec, W. Cieśla, W. Dzięciołowski, A. Kowalkowski, S. Kuczaba, J. Marcinek, Z. Margowski, W. Mucha, Z. Prusinkiewicz, S. Rząsa). During almost 32 years of teaching and research, Prof. Terlikowski created the well-known and highly respected “Poznań School of Soil Science”. The main objectives of this school were as follows: the study of soil properties in their natural state or slightly changed by human activity, and the confrontation of this state with the properties shaped under the influence of agricultural treatments.
Prof. Terlikowski died on July 22, 1951 at the age of 66, fully creative to the end, while continuing many of the research topics where his original, bold and creative concepts were manifested. His work was continued by his closest collaborator — Prof. M. Kwinichidze.
Prof. Kwinichidze was the Head of the Department of Soil Science between 1951–1960. During this period, the detailed research of forest soils was continued. In 1960, he retired, and the management of the department was taken over by Prof. B. Reimann, who held this position until 1976.
In 1975, the management of the Department, or more precisely the Soil Science Research and Teaching Team, later the Section of Soil Science (1978–1981) within the organizational framework of the Institute of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, and finally the Department of Soil Science (from 1981), was taken over by Prof. Z. Margowski.
This period (1978–1982) saw a continuation of the research and work from previous years, carried out by teams led by Prof. W. Dzięciołowski (Director of the Institute), by Prof. Margowski and by Prof. S. Rząsa. After the death of Prof. Margowski in 1982, the management of the Department was taken over by Prof. Wojciech Dzięciołowski.
Between 1985–1994, the Department of Soil Science was headed by Prof. Rząsa. During this period, the main research was focused on the following topics (and was a continuation of research from previous years):
- soil and groundwater chemistry within small catchments used for intensive agriculture (fertilized), taking into account drainage waters, small water reservoirs, etc.
- soil contamination in the vicinity of copper and aluminum smelters, petrochemical plants, etc., and the possibilities for developing such areas, limiting harmful effects, etc.
- research on the structure of Polish soils — research methodology, interpretation of results, evaluation etc.; inter alia, the state and properties of the aggregate structure were analyzed depending on fertilization ("0", N, P, K, manure and fertilizer combinations), crops (black fallow, rye, alfalfa, potatoes, barley in a 37-year-old monoculture), effects of growing season, climatic factors, mechanical cultivation, etc.
- degradation of soil productivity in the area affected by lignite opencast mine drainage in the Konin Basin — essence, size, recognition, evaluation, etc.
- soils of the Wielkopolska Region — their genesis, classification, properties, productivity, management, etc.; this fundamental topic has been researched continually from the beginning of the department’s existence until now, by the entire research and teaching team.
From 1994 to 2017, after the retirement of Prof. Rząsa, the Department of Soil Science (the name was changed to the Department of Soil Science and Land Protection after 2009) was headed by Prof. A. Mocek. Scientific research continued to focus on the topics that were investigated in the 1980s and 1990s.
In 2006, the Department acquired a new location at Szydłowska 50 Street, thus leaving the buildings at Mazowiecka 42 and Podlaska 12/14 Streets, where it had operated for nearly 90 years. In recent years, two more changes related to the position of the Head of the Department have taken place. Following the retirement of Prof. Mocek, the Department of Soil Science and Land Protection was headed by Prof. W. Owczarzak (2017–2020). Currently this position is held by Prof. W. Spychalski.
At this moment, ten employees work at the Department of Soil Science and Land Protection, seven of whom are research and teaching staff (Prof. M. Jakubus, P. Gajewski, PhD., Prof. Z. Kaczmarek, Prof. W. Spychalski, B. Glina, PhD., Ł. Mendyk, PhD. and T. Kaczmarek, MSc.), and three work as administrative and technical staff (L. Danielewicz, MSc., P. Rybczyński, MSc., and Z. Giebień, specialist).
Since 1919, 25 habilitation theses, 48 doctoral dissertations and over 720 master theses have been conducted at the Department of Soil Science.