Quality of Pea Seeds and Agroecological Condition of Soil When Using Structured Water

Abstract

The widespread use of water in crop production and agriculture is due to a significant increase in yields during the watering of agricultural crops, as well as the transfer of pesticides and mineral fertilizers to plants and soil by water. One of the ways to improve the quality of water used in crop production is to structure it. An urgent task is to study the effect of structured water delivered to agricultural crops by watering or spraying on the yield, quality of the resulting products and agroecological condition of the soil. Field studies on pea crops were conducted at experimental sites of the Vinnytsia National Agrarian University, laboratory studies were conducted in accredited laboratories for monitoring the quality, safety of feed and raw materials of the Institute of Feed Research and Agriculture of Podillya of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine and the testing centre of the Vinnytsia branch of the state institution “Institute of Soil Protection of Ukraine”. When watering peas with structured water, its yield increases by 42.3% compared to the version without water application and by 22.3% compared to the version with watering with plain water. Pea seeds when watered with structured water have a lower content of crude protein by 0.43 %, crude fat – by 0.09%, crude ash – by 0.63%, but a higher content of crude fibre by 0.11% and nitrogen-free extractives – by 0.99% compared to the version without water. The content of humus in the soil, when watered with structured water, was lower than in the version without water by 0.04%, lightly hydrolysed nitrogen – by 8.0%, mobile phosphorus – by 20.0%, exchangeable potassium – by 7.9%, the reaction of the soil solution – by 0.2 pH, hydrolytic acidity – by 21.7%, the concentration of mobile lead – by 18.4%. However, the concentration of mobile cadmium increased by 43.8% and soil moisture – by 4.3%. When comparing the indicators of the agroecological state of the soil, which was watered with structured and plain water, it was found that watering with structured water reduces the content of humus by 0.03%, lightly hydrolysed nitrogen – by 2.3%, mobile phosphorus – by 20%, exchange potassium – by 9.7%, hydrolytic acidity – by 7.7%, the reaction of the soil solution – by 0.3 pH, but increases the content of mobile lead by 10.9%, mobile cadmium – by 25.0% and increases the moisture content in the soil – by 2.7%