Soil moisture potential of agrocenoses in the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

Aim. To determine the main regularities in the formation of soil moisture potential, the accumulation and exploita- tion of soil resources of productive moisture by agricultural crops under the cultivation in the ecosystems of dif- ferent crop rotations in the Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. Methods. Field, permanent, laboratory, analytic, statistical methods. Results. During a short-term grain-row crop rotation, the total loss of available moisture without the introduction of mineral fertilizers was 317 mm, and in the variant with fertilizers it increased by 107 %. The total loss of moisture under different ways of tillage in the variants without any fertilizers was the lowest for the surface tillage and increased 1.05 times for ploughing and 1.08 times for deep tillage. After the introduction of fertilizers, the total loss of moisture increased by 23.0 mm or 107 % on average. In case of long-term (10–36 years) surface tillage, the efficiency of using the reserves of productive moisture increased by 25–40 % and the coefficients of water consumption of crops decreased by 35–40 %. Conclusions. Short-term crop rotations were found to be more productive, and the relation between energy accumulation in dry matter, the yield of fodder and cereal units and energy accumulation in the yield per 10 t of used productive (available) moisture was at the level of strong direct correlation (R>+0.70). Regression coefficients for the variables: dry matter, fodder and cereal units, dry matter per 10 t of moisture in dependence equations were 3.06, 1.25, 7.25, and 2.89 times higher, respectively, as compared with long-term crop rotations, which demonstrated 2.59-fold increased productivity and use of the total moisture circulation in short-term crop rotations as compared with long-term ones.