Effectiveness of grassland crop rotation in the submontane area of the Republic of North Ossetia Alania

Abstract

In conditions of the submontane zone of The Republic of North Ossetia Alania the investigated cultures of grassland crop rotation made positive effect on structurally-aggregate properties of soil, water stability of soil aggregates, and also on fruitfulness and energetic potential of cultivated crops. The most favorable impact on soil structure was made by clover and winter wheat, which are having more lengthy periods of vegetation, well developed root system, ensuring the better protection of soil in autumn and spring from the destructive effect of atmospheric precipitation. Intertilled cultures had low evaluation in this context. The capacity for structure formation is more weakly expressed in potatoes. In result of research it was revealed that the soil under study has good structural condition because it contains from 52.1 to 55.8% of water-stable aggregates. It was established that the weight by volume kept changing in all cultures of crop rotation. By the end of vegetation, the tendency of increasing weight by volume has been observed practically in all variants. In general, the average soil density under all cultures has been optimal during the whole period of research. The maximum output of feed units was marked among the following options: oat + clover – 9.83 t/ha, clover – 9.49 t/ha, corn – 9.49 t/ha. The more quantity of digested protein was contained in the crop of clover, for the rest of the cultures the index was approximately at the same level. The grass rotation where the pickup of feed units and digested protein was credibly exceeding the indices of intertilled rotation, was the more fruitful (7.96 t/ha – rotation grass and 6.33 t/ha – intertilled rotation).