DYNAMICS OF FERTILITY OF AGRICULTURAL CHERNOZEMS OF FOREST-STEPPE ZONE OF THE CENTRAL CHERNOZEM REGIONS OF RUSSIA

Abstract

The research was carried out to study the dynamics of fertility of arable soils in the southwestern part of the forest-steppe zone of the Central Chernozem region. The work was carried out according to the results of an agrochemical soil survey on the territory of Yakovlevsky district of Belgorod region. The soil cover was represented mainly by typical chernozems (57.7%) and leached (28.2%). Under these conditions, an increase in the average dose of organic fertilizers in the region from 6.5 t/ha in 2010–2014 up to 14.6 t/ha in 2015-2018 while maintaining the use of mineral fertilizers at the level of 82.9 kg a.i./ha, it became one of the main factors in the growth of the weighted average content of mobile forms of phosphorus in the soil from 101 to 167 mg/kg, potassium - from 120 to 183, sulfur - from 2.5 to 4.7, manganese - from 11.0 to 13.1, zinc - from 0.4 to 0.7 mg/kg. Bringing liming volumes in the region for 2015–2018 to 32.7 thousand hectares contributed to a decrease in the share of acidic soils from 84.7 in 2009 to 52.9% in 2018.Along with the improvement of the agrochemical parameters of arable soils, there was a significant increase in the yield of the main agricultural crops: winter wheat - from 3.38 to 4.55 t/ha, corn for grain - from 4.84 to 7.60 t/ha, sugar beet - from 36.8 to 56.4 t/ha