Fertility dynamics of the forest-steppe zone’s arable soils in the central chernozem region (on the example of the Prokhorovsky district of the Belgorod region)

Abstract

The work is based on the results of a continuous arable soils' agrochemical survey of the Prokhorovsky district of the Belgorod region conducted by the center of the agrochemical service "Belgorod" from 2012 to 2020. During this time, 3 research cycles were performed. The study period was divided into 2 parts: from 2012 to 2016 and from 2017 to 2020. In the course of the study, it was found that chemical reclamation techniques allowed to reduce the area of acidic soils by 25.15%, including medium and strongly acidic by 21.84%; the weighted average value of hydrolytic acidity decreased by 0.70 mmol /100 g of soil. The complex of chemical and agrotechnical measures contributed to the accumulation of soil organic matter by 0.52%, alkaline hydrolyzable nitrogen - by 29 mgN/kg, mobile forms of potassium - by 16, sulfur - by 3.2, manganese - by 3.08, copper - by 0.002 mg/kg, as well as an increase in the yield of winter wheat by 27.0%, spring barley - by 26.2%, soy - by 16.8%, grain sunflower - by 14.8%, grain maize - by 6.2%.