Using a Soil Bioregeneration Approach to Reduce Soil Compaction and Financial Costs of Planting Winter Wheat and Rapeseed

Abstract

Achieving a positive balance between energy use and environmental protection requirements has shown that soil bioregeneration could reduce the main disadvantages of tillage, that lead to increased costs and reduced profits. The aim was to assess the impact of soil bioregeneration on tillage consumption, yield, financial costs, and farmers income. For three consecutive years in the spring, after the resumption of winter wheat and rapeseed vegetation, the soil was bioregenerated under seven different scenarios. The best results were obtained using a scenario where soil was bioregenerated with a solution consisting of plant essential oils, 40 species of various herbs, marine algae extracts, mineral oils, Azotobacter vinelandii bacteria, humic acids, gibberellic acid, copper, zinc, manganese, iron, calcium, and sodium molybdate. Soil bioregeneration research has identified that fuel consumption could decrease to 23%, financial costs could decrease to 40%, and yield and farmers income from crop production could increase to 28% compared with the scenario where the soil was not bioregenerated. By applying the discovered soil bioregeneration method, the savings could reach up to EUR 3 per ha−1.