The eroded slopes alkalization peculiarities in southern part of western Forest Steppe

Abstract

A significant part of arable lands on slopes is subject to removal from active processing, and to alkalization with perennial herbs. We know that the most productive are those agro-phytocenoses, forming based on a single-species sowing of alfalfa (Lucerne), and its mixture with perennial cereal grasses. However, the restrictive factor of forming alfalfa-cereal grasslands high productivity is the soil solution acid reaction. The research carried out in 2017–2020 showed that lime application has significantly affected the soil solution reaction. Almost in all variants with liming, the values approached neutral. Besides, the soil liming was an effective factor of the researched grasslands productivity increase. So, a herbal mixture: red clover + alfalfa + timothy grass, on the background without liming and introducing phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, averagely for 2017–2020 has provided the output of 5,93 t/ ha of dry matter. On deacidified plots, the given herbal mixture productivity has increased to 7,52 t/ha of dry matter. The combination of soil liming and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers application has supplied the maximum dry matter output from the herbal mixture: red clover + alfalfa + smooth bromegrass – 8,66 t/ha, which exceeded by 27,5 % the unfertilized variant. The soil chemical melioration and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers application have proved to be the important factors of increasing the leguminous components part in the botanical component of a green mass yield. Particularly, in the most productive herbal mixture: red clover + alfalfa + smooth bromegrass, on the limed and fertilized background, a leguminous component part in the first and second mowings has increased by 20,9 and 17,4 %, respectively. Thus, the legume-cereal grasslands averagely for the first four years of usage provide the 5,93–8,66 t/ ha dry matter output, containing 32–63,8 % of a leguminous component. The soil chemical melioration, as well as phosphorus-potassium fertilizers application have increased the legume-cereal grasslands productivity by 27,5–27,9 %, and enlarged the leguminous components part by 17,4–20,9 %. Key words: sloping lands, soil liming, herbal mixture, alfalfa (Lucerne), timothy grass, smooth bromegrass, productivity, botanical composition.