INFLUENCE OF BIOLOGIZATION AND CHEMICALIZATION ON WATER CONSUMPTION OF CROPS IN FODDER CROP ROTATIONS

Abstract

The work presents the results of research into the effect of biologization (intercropping legume component with grain crops) and chemicalization (use of mineral fertilizers) applied in each fi eld of fodder crop rotation on the moisture content of leached chernozem in the conditions of the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia. Water consumption and crop productivity in six-fi eld fodder crop rotations over four years of the second rotation were studied. Only recognized locally-bred crop varieties were cultivated in the experiment, such as Krasnoobsky oat, Acha barley, pea Novosibirets, vetch Priobskaya 25, alfalfa Flora, awnless brome Rassvet, hybrid maize Obsky 140 SV and fodder bean Sibirskiye. It was established that intercropping of the legume component caused the increase in the consumption of productive moisture reserves from the soil by fodder agrocenoses from 66 mm to 84 mm and the application of mineral fertilizers resulted in the moisture consumption increase of up to 74 mm. The use of methods for fodder crop rotation improvement led to the increase in the total water consumption of fodder crops. As a result of mineral fertilizer input it increased from 244 mm to 252 mm, and due to the intercropping of legume component it rose up to 262 mm. With regard to increasing the consumption of productive moisture reserves from the soil layer of 0-100 cm, crops ranked in the following order: perennial grasses – silos – fodder-grain crops – cover crops, whereas with regard to increasing the total water consumption they ranked in reverse order. The use of chemical agents increased the yield of dry matter by 1.6 times, while water consumption coeffi cient decreased by an average of 2.2 times in the crop rotation. Application of biologization led to the yield increase by 1.4 times, reducing water consumption coeffi cient by 1.9 times. In the control crop rotation, maize consumed the least amount of moisture (346 m 3 /ton of dry weight), and the most moisture was consumed by the grain part of barley (2933 m 3 /t of dry weight). When applying mineral fertilizers, the maximum and minimum water consumption fell on the same crops – 290 m 3 /t and 1087 m 3 /t dry weight respectively. When the legume component was sowed in each crop rotation fi eld, the minimum moisture consumption was in the fi elds with awnless brome intercropped with alfalfa, namely 384 m 3 /t dry weight, while the maximum consumption was in the fi elds with barley and pea grains – 1199 m 3 /t dry weight.