Influence of various systems of soil tillage on agrophysical properties of leached chernozem

Abstract

The paper presents the results of research into the effect of different soil tillage systems on soil density and structure. The research was conducted in a long-term stationary experiment on the crops of Nikita spring barley. The soil of the experimental plot is classifi ed as leached, mediumtextured, medium-humus, heavy-loam chernozem. The following soil tillage systems with peas as a forecrop were studied: deep moldboard, deep combined, minimum combined and zero. The years of research (2015-2018) differed in heat availability and amount of precipitation. This allowed to study and carry out comparative assessment of the effect of various soil tillage systems of leached chernozem on agrophysical properties of soil. Yearly weather conditions had no signifi cant effect on soil density with all the studied soil tillage systems in single and binary crops of spring barley, whereby the indicators varied from 1.87 to 6.72%. Compared to deep moldboard tillage (control), there was an increase in soil density with zero tillage in singlecrop sowings of spring barley by 6.2%, and in binary crops – by 9.4%. However, the indices were not beyond optimum values of 1.02-1.05 g/ cm3. The optimum equilibrium soil density for the main subtypes of chernozems is 1.0-1.25 g/cm3. Minimum combined soil tillage system resulted in the stable content of valuable structural soil units 0.25-10 mm both in single-crop and binary sowings of spring barley at 68.3% and 68.9%, and the coeffi cient of soil structural properties – 2.15 and 2.21 respectively. It was established that the effect of soil tillage system on the creation of valuable structural units in soil was 21.4%, yearly weather conditions – 11.8%, type of crops – 25.5%.