State of soil fertility in Chernivtsi region

Abstract

The main indicators of soil fertility based on the results of an agrochemical survey of agricultural lands in Chernivtsi region in the XI round (2016–2020) are given. It was established that the acidity of the soil solution in the region is dominated by lands close to neutral (31.8%) and neutral (36.5%). The weighted average indicator of saline pH is 5.8, which corresponds to a close to neutral reaction of the soil solution. According to the level of humus provision, soils with an average humus content prevail (66.7%), and the weighted average humus content in the region is 2.7%. According to the content of easily hydrolysable nitrogen, most of the lands have very low (48.3%) and low nitrogen content (48.7%). The weighted average indicator of easily hydrolysable nitrogen content for the reporting period is 106.4 mg/kg of soil, which corresponds to the low availability of this element. The region is dominated by lands with an average content of mobile phosphorus compounds (31.5%) and the average weighted indicator of the content of mobile phosphorus compounds is 56 mg/kg, which corresponds to average availability. In terms of the content of mobile compounds of potassium, lands with a very high content of potassium prevail (51.5%), although the weighted average indicator of the content of mobile compounds of potassium is 78 mg/kg, which corresponds to the average supply of the macroelement. It was established that in the Chernivtsi region the largest area is occupied by soils of average quality (68.5%), and the weighted average assessment of agricultural land in the Chernivtsi region is 51. A comparison of the quality assessment of the soils of the Chernivtsi region for the 10th (2011–2015) and 11th rounds (2016–2020) of agrochemical surveys was made. The results showed that the quality of the soils in the Kelmentsi and Kitsman districts has hardly changed. The soil quality assessment of Novoselytskyi, Hertsaivskyi, Vyzhnytskyi and Hlybotskyi districts improved by 3–6 points. The qualitative assessment of the condition of the lands of Khotynskyi (+8 points), Storozhynetskyi (+13 points) and Sokyryanskyi (+19 points) districts improved significantly. A decrease in land quality indicators was recorded in Zastavnivskyi (–3 points) and Putilskyi (–4 points) districts.