The influence of light-gray forest soil tillage systems on biological activity of the soil and productivity of pea in the Nizhny Novgorod region

Abstract

The research was conducted in 2017-2018 in the Nizhny Novgorod region on light-gray forest soil in the link of “spring wheat-pea” crop rotation. The article presents the results of study of the influence of soil tillage systems (traditional moldboard tillage with moldboard plow; non-moldboard “deep” tillage with boardless plow; non-moldboard “shallow” tillage with chisel cultivator Pottinger Synkro 5030 K; minimum tillage with disc harrow XM 44660 NOTHAD; zero tillage (No-till) with grain drill Sunflower 9421-20, mineral fertilizers (N60P60K60 kg of active ingredient) and straw destructors (ammonium nitrate in the dose of N10 kg of active ingredient per 1 t of straw and biological preparation  Stimix®Niva 2 ltr/ha) on the change in the indicator of biological activity of the soil and the yield of pea variety Krasivy. In the conditions of insufficient precipitation of the growing season of 2018, No-till technology resulted in a decrease in the average biological activity of the soil  by the tillage systems under study in pea plantings of Krasivy variety: by 6.3 % (from 18.6 to 12.3 %) compared to the traditional moldboard tillage system with moldboard plow; by 4.7 % (from 17.0 to 12.3 %) compared to the non-moldboard “deep” tillage with boardless plow; by 3.5 % (from 15.8 to 12.3 %) compared to the non-moldboard "shallow" tillage with a chisel cultivator; by 4.9 % (from 17.2 to 12.3 %) compared to the minimum processing with disk harrow. The use of the biological preparation Stimix®Niva as a straw destructor in arid conditions of 2018 was more effective than the use of ammonium nitrate in field test variants without application of mineral fertilizers (N60P60K60). The biological activity of the soil increased on fall plowing with moldboard plow by 3.8 % (20.8 and 17.0% respectively); on fall plowing with boardless plow by 5.3 % (18. 8 and 13.5 %); on minimum tillage with a disc harrow by 4.8 % (18.9 and 14.1 %). Under the weather conditions of 2018, the highest yield of Krasivy pea variety was obtained in the variant of field experiment where fall plowing with soil overturning to the depth of 20-22 cm with the use of ammonium nitrate as a straw destructor in a dose of 10 kg of active ingredient per 1 ton of straw was used as basic cultivation. The use of mineral fertilizers (N60P60K60) by this system of soil tillage in dry conditions did not affect the yield of Krasivy pea variety (2.70-of 2.76 t/ha). When using the No-till technology of pea production, the obtained yield in the conditions of the Nizhny Novgorod region in 2018 ranged from 0.74 to 2.24 t/ha.