Agroecological state of soils in Kyiv Polissia

Abstract

Based on the results of the 9th, 10th and 11th rounds of agrochemical land profiling conducted by the State Enterprise «Soil Protection», the agroecological state of soils in Kyiv Polissia is analyzed using the example of the soils in Makariv rural territorial community of Bucha district in Kyiv region. The surveyed soils of the community were assessed for their organic matter content, mobile nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, pH, and moisture levels. It was determined that nearly 54% of the surveyed agricultural land in Makariv rural territorial community consists of acidic soils. The area of these soils increased by 8.3% due to the redistribution of land from neutral pH to slightly acidic. Over 15 years, there was a decrease in organic matter content from 2.52%, which corresponded to the average level, to a low content of 1.9%. During this period, there was a redistribution of soil areas based on organic matter content, with an increase in soils with very low and low organic matter content at the expense of soils with medium and high organic matter content. Currently, soils with very low and low organic matter content predominate at 66.3%. Only 1.2% of the surveyed areas in the community have elevated organic matter content, and 0.5% of them have high to very high content. Monitoring the content of mobile phosphorus compounds in the soils indicated a decrease from 67 mg/kg to 60 mg/kg. In contrast, the content of mobile potassium compounds increased by 42%, from 36 mg/kg to 51 mg/kg. Based on the data from the agrochemical survey, a qualitative assessment of the agricultural land soils in Makariv rural territorial community was conducted, and it was found that, in general, the quality corresponds to a low level, with 29 points (Class VIII). Specifically, soils of low and very low quality cover 97.2% of the area (Class VII — 16.2%, Class VIII — 80.9%), with only 2.8% of the area being of elevated quality (Class V). A decrease in soils of low quality by 15.7% and an increase in soils of very low quality by 12.9% were also noted.