Influence of variable hydrothermal conditions on the nutritional regime of typical chornozem and efficiency of by-products as fertilizer

Abstract

Goal. To determine patterns of formation of the main and by-products of crop production on typical chornozem. To assess the use of low-value parts of the crop for fertilizer in the system of organic farming. Methods. During an experiment established in 1962, 16 variants of field crop rotations were studied. An organic system of agriculture was applied with the use of only by-products of the crop for fertilizer: grain straw and sugar beet tops. Results. With long-term use of by-products without the use of mineral fertilizers in the Eastern Forest-Steppe of Ukraine on typical chornozem, legumes, on average, provide grain yield up to 2 t/ha, annual grasses — at the level of 15 t/ha green mass, and corn for silage up to 25 t/ha. The grain yield of winter wheat on pure fallow is 4.21 t/ha, after peas — 3.66, and after the rank — 3.42 t/ha with fluctuations in its ratio with straw from 1:1.2 to 1:1.7. The yield of sugar beet roots has an average level of 27 t/ha in the ratio of tops 1:0.4. The average grain yield of buckwheat is 1.2-1.3 t/ha in the absence of correlation with straw biomass, with fluctuations in the ratio between them from 1:1.6 to 1:3.5, and an average value of 1:2.2. The yield of spring barley after sugar beet and buckwheat had an average of 2.16 and 1.99 t/ha for the ratio of straw 1:1.34 and 1:1.35. Conclusions. Analysis of yield data in terms of the impact of crop rotations of the first crops on subsequent ones shows that predecessors mostly affect winter wheat and sugar beet. The obtained results make it possible to determine the production volumes of crop by-products according to the yield data of the main products to use them for fertilizer in the system of organic production.