Influence of Soil Cultivation on the Content of the Main Elements of Mineral Nutrition

Abstract

The article presents the results of studies on the influence of methods of basic soil cultivation and fertilizer rates on the content of available forms of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Experiments were laid in 2012–2018 on chernozem heavy loamy soils typical for most farms in the Ulyanovsk region. The purpose of our research was to determine the influence of the methods of basic soil cultivation and the doses of mineral fertilizers on the nutritional regime with the continuous and local placement of crop residues. The following methods of soil cultivation were studied: 1. Moldboard – (plowing by 20–22 cm PLN-4-35) control; 2. Mouldboardless – (SibIME stands for 20–22 cm), 3. Shallow comb-cultivator – (OP-3S for 10–12 cm), 4. Shallow mulching tillage – (OPO-4.25 for 10–12 cm), 5. Without the main autumn tillage, 6. Peeling with a stubble spreader – (OP-3S by 6–8 cm), 7. Ridge-curling – (OPP-3S with soil deepening up to 30–32 cm). Against the background of treatments for crop rotation, fertilizers were applied in doses of N0P0K0; N30P30K30; N60P60K60. It was found that, against a natural background, the best nitrifying ability was possessed by ridge cultivation with soil deepening, at which the weighted average value of the nitrate nitrogen content was 3.94 mg/100 g, which is 37% more than at zero, by 45% at shallow and 57–58% for conventional moldboard and moldless processing. Plowing improved the conditions for phosphorus and potassium nutrition of plants by 14–27% and 6–11% in comparison with other treatments. When N30P30K30 и N60P60K60 were introduced into the soil, the content of nitrate nitrogen increased by 48% and 84%, phosphorus and potassium by 6% and 17% compared to the non-fertilized background.