Post-Harvest Siderates and Soil Hardness

Abstract

The results of researches of the perspective direction of solving the problem of growth of hardness of typical cher-nozem, which consisted in enrichment of the soil with fresh organic matter of postharvest greens, are presented. During the years of our research it was found that growing of post-harvest siderates contributed to a significant reduction in hardness of 0–30 cm soil layer. Among the studied siderates the lowest hardness of 0–30 cm soil layer was under crops of Raphanus sativum in all years of research – 10.9–16.8 kg/cm2. In the variants of potato growing without fertilizers was found close reverse relation between hardness and productive moisture reserves – r = –0.74. These dependences confirm positive effect of siderate Raphanus sativum as a factor of biological loosening of soil. After all, it was just the variant where reduction of productive moisture reserves had the smallest share of impact – 22% on the growth of soil hardness. At the same time, this share of influence increased to 27–41% on the background of other siderates and manure, and up to 54% in the control without application of organic fertilizers. The highest yield of potato tubers was obtained on the plots with the lowest soil hardness, where Raphanus sativum was used as a post-harvest siderate, followed by the variants with manure, Phacelia tanacetifolia and Fagopyrum esculentum.