Qualitative state of chornozems of the Chkalovsk community in the pre-war period

Abstract

Goal. To determine the pre-war qualitative state and quantitative indicators of the fertility of chernozems of the Chkalovska territorial community. Methods. Comparative–geographical to characterize the spatial distribution of soils; profile–analytical to describe soil profiles and analyze soil samples; computational–statistical to determine agro–soil potentials and soil areas. The object of research was the soil cover of the Chkalovska territorial community with an absolute predominance of typical heavy loamy and light clay chernozems in it, which were damaged as a result of military operations in 2022. Studies of the pre–war state of soils were conducted on the basis of our own experimental materials with partial involvement of stock data. Results. The morphogenetic features of the typical chernozems of the community and their qualitative state are shown, the parameters of the coefficient of relative accumulation of humus (CRAH) are determined as a benchmark for assessing the degree of development of degradation processes. Based on the generalization of the data, the parameters of the average long–term soil potentials of natural and effective fertility in terms of the main agricultural crops are determined. The sufficiently high qualitative state and fertility of chernozems in the pre–war period are shown with a relatively insignificant development of degradation processes. Conclusions. The soil cover of the Chkalovska community is represented mainly by chernozem soils with a humus content of up to 5.5–5.7%, which in the pre–war period underwent minimal degradation mainly due to xeromorphism and erodibility. The qualitative state and fertility of soils before the war were at a high level, respectively, the hydrothermal resources of the territory with a GTK index of 0.90–1.00 and the agro–soil potentials of natural and effective fertility in non–xeromorphic types of chernozems at a level of up to 3.4–3.8 and 4.7–5.1 t/ha for winter wheat, 4.0–4.6 and 6.2–6.6 t/ha for grain corn, 2.4–2.7 and 3.0–3.4 t/ha for sunflower, with a decrease of 15–30% in xeromorphic types.