Soil quality indicators of arable lands in the Russian Federation

The study presents three groups of Soil Quality Indicators (SQI) of arable lands in the Russian Federation, such as agroclimate conditions, soil parameters and negative soil characteristics. The selection of SQI meets the requirements of the crop growth model for calculating the standard crop yield. The application of SQI in the Grain Equivalent Model allows ranking quality of the soils of agricultural lands in the country. The share of the best quality Chernozems with the standard yield of grain crops exceeding 4 t/ha is about 10%. At the same time, arable Chernozems occupy nearly 66% of total area of agricultural lands. More than 74% of the arable lands including podzolized and leached Chernozems in the northern part and Chernozems southern in the southern part of the agricultural zone are characterized by medium quality with the standard yield of grain crops 2-4 t/ha. About 10% of the arable land occupied by Chestnut solonetzic and saline soils are of poorer quality with the standard yield of grain crops less than 1 t/ha. The proposed indicators are included in the government programs for valuating and monitoring the quality of agricultural lands. The universal validity of indicators is a basis for the development of a new generation of standards for the protection and rational use of soils based on modern digital technologies and GIS approaches.