Plant and Soil Science

In the current climate change, affecting the growth of crops, it is relevant to evaluate various agrotechnical measures for their impact on soil fertility. Soil tillage systems play an important role in technologies of growing crops. The purpose of our research was to determine the impact of tillage systems in the Northern Steppe of Ukraine on fertility parameters of chernozem ordinary. In the experiment, three tillage systems were studied: plowing by 23-25 sm, minimum tillage by 4-5 sm and no-tillage (direct seeding). In soil samples we determined the total humus content by the Tyurin method in the Simakov modification, the structural aggregate composition by the method of Savinov, the moisture content of the soil by the weight method. The use of no-tillage and reduced tillage provided the formation of a deflation-resistant surface of 0-10 cm soil layer: the content of aggregates larger than 1 mm was 62 and 60%, in the plowing variant - 49%. The humus content in the 0-30 cm layer was 4.58% in No-tillage variant, 4.57 – in reduced tillage and 4.52% for the plowing. Reducing tillage is also higher reserves of productive moisture in a meter layer of comparative with traditional plowing.

soil fertility, climate aridization, chernozem ordinary, productive moisture, no tillage, humus, soil deflation