The impact of growing legume plants under conditions of biologization and soil cultivation on chernozem fertility and productivity of rotation crops

Abstract

Background: The combined use of green manure and legumes in binary legume-crop mixtures allows farmers to efficiently produce a sufficient amount of human food and animal feed. The purpose of this study is examine how biologization and the use of different soil cultivation techniques in legume cropping affects chernozem soil fertility and productivity of rotation crops. Methods: The studies were conducted between 2017 and 2019 in 3 crop rotations. The first (control) crop rotation comprised of a clean fallow phase, winter wheat, barley and sunflower. The second crop rotation was that of green-manure fallow (clover), winter wheat, barley, sunflower and clover with oilseed radish as green manure. The third crop rotation included alfalfa, winter wheat combined with alfalfa, followed by barley, followed by sunflower and alfalfa with oilseed radish as green manure. Result: The three-year data indicated that there was an improvement in the physical properties of soil. The water resistance of soil aggregates increased by 9.7 per cent. There was a steady tendency towards an increase in detritus content (1.5 times), the amount of soil aggregates (one-third) and water resistance of the soil aggregates (9 per cent).