Effects of Basic Soil Treatment Techniques on the Nitrate Nitrogen Accumulation Dynamics in Soil

Abstract

This paper addresses the effects that basic soil treatment techniques that place crop residues on the field surface in different ways have on the nitrate nitrogen content in the soil. The study was carried out in 2018–2019 in Saratov oblast in the framework of a stationary experiment conducted by the Agricultural Research Institute for the Southeastern Region in a sloping–hollow agrolandscape represented by a landscape strip on a south-facing slope with an inclination of 1°–3°. The nitrate nitrogen dynamics was monitored in the course of cultivation of soft spring wheat, variety Saratovskaya 70. The purpose of this study was to identify the accumulation dynamics patterns of nitrate nitrogen in soils treated by sweep cultivation that leaves crop residues on the soil surface and by a cultivation technique that places crop residues locally in coulisses divided by mineralized soil strips. It is established that surface placement of crop residues as a result of sweep loosening and their local placement in coulisses reduce the nitrate nitrogen content iRUBRICSn the arable layer. By contrast, the mineralized strips formed between the coulisses provide optimal conditions for nitrification processes.