Efficiency of Precision Fertilization System in Grain-Grass Crop Rotation

Abstract

The purpose of a comprehensive field experiment was to evaluate the agronomic efficiency of a precise organomineral fertilizer system based on a uniform and differentiated application of mineral and organic fertilizers. The methodological basis of the study was a two-factor landscape field experiment with grain-grass crop rotation, established within the sloping agricultural landscape of a gently undulating glaciolacustrine plain. It was determined, that soil and agrochemical conditions and a stable soil water regime were of decisive importance in the effectiveness of fertilizers within the agrolandscape. The level increase in yield from the differentiated application of peat-dung compost (once in a bare fallow) and mineral fertilizers relative to the uniform application was 7–12% for winter wheat, 5–11% for oats, 3–8% for perennial grasses, and in the entire crop rotation—5–8%. It regularly decreased during the mineralization of the applied organic fertilizers. Among the three variants of the precise fertilization system studied, the best result was achieved in the option, where organic and mineral fertilizers were applied differentially. In this case, the absolute increase in crop rotation productivity relative to the unfertilized variant reached 16.39 t ha−1 of cereal units or 116%, and relative to the uniform fertilizer system—2.27 t ha−1 of cereal units or 8%.