Biological activity of lyconned chernozem in the gardens at the row sodding by the legume-cereal perennial grass

The issues of soil fertility reproduction in gardens are less studied than on other agricultural lands. When developing agrotechnical methods for the preservation and reproduction of soil fertility in gardens, it is important to take into account their influence on the activity of the useful soil entomofauna, because the biological activity indicators allow to identify the direction in the change of soil fertility much faster than the study of such indicators of fertility, as the humus content. The studies were conducted in the apple orchard, the row spacing of which was under black fellow. The experience began in 2015 on leached chernozem in the apple orchard which was planted in 1984. Legumes and cereal perennial grasses - red clover and meadow timothy in various proportions, compared with natural sodding, were sown. The purpose of the study was to determine the biological activity of the soil between the rows of the garden, which were under sodding. The studies have shown that the sodding of row spacing of the orchard with natural vegetation, as well as the sowing of legume-grass mixtures led to a significant reduction in the number of microscopic fungi. On the black fellow, on average for three years, the number of fungi was 7.3 thousand in CFU in 1 g of dry soil, while in sodding their number was in the range of 5.1-5.7 thousand CFU in 1 g of soil. At the same time, the smallest amount was in the variant with the 30% red clover + 70% timothy grass sowing. The decrease in the number of fungi indicates the creation of more favorable conditions for the grassy turf soil-forming process under sodding. The largest number was noted in the variant where a mixture of legume-grass vegetation was sown, consisting of 30% red clover and 70% timothy grass - 10.2 million CFU in 1 g of absolutely dry soil. In the variant with natural grass stand, the number of actinomycetes was 7.1 million CFU in 1 g of soil. In the soil under vegetation, the number of microscopic fungi decreases; processes of transformation of organic matter are enhanced; there is a decrease in the intensity of mineralization processes.