Changes in the physical properties of dark gray forest soil depending on the method of basic cultivation in the conditions of the Orel region

Soil structure and moisture content are key factors determining fertility and productivity of the agricultural land. The optimal aggregate state of the soil contributes to the improvement of the water-air regime, the activation of microbiological processes and the effective absorption Вестник аграрной науки, 3(114) 2025 DOI: 10.24412/2587-666X-2025-3-44-50 45 of nutrients by plants. In the conditions of a changing climate and frequent droughts, soil cultivation methods are of particular importance, affecting its ability to retain moisture and form a stable structure. This article examines the influence of various methods of basic processing of dark gray forest soil on its structural condition and moisture-retaining capacity in the conditions of the Orel region. Field experiments were conducted in 2023-2024 at the experimental field of the Orel State Agrarian University, where three variants of basic processing were compared: zero tillage, surface and reverse ploughing. The relevance of the work is due to the need to choose the most effective agrotechnical techniques that ensure preservation and improvement of the soil fertility in the conditions of moisture deficiency. The results showed that plowing provided the best soil structure with the highest content of agronomically valuable aggregates (82.2%) and the highest coefficient of the soil pedality (K=4.61). This option also contributed to the greatest accumulation of moisture (21.83%) in the drought conditions, which is important for the growth and development of soybeans. The surface treatment yielded intermediate results, while the zero treatment proved to be the least effective in all the parameters studied. The study confirms that deep plowing is the optimal method of cultivating soil for soybeans in the arid climates, improving soil structure and increasing its moisture retention capacity.