Accumulation of plant residues and biological activity of ordinary chernozems with resource-saving technologies

Research was carried out in a combined grain-shallow eight-field crop rotation and permanent wheat cultivation in order to improve the resource-saving processing system and to study the possibilities of using zero technologies in the cultivation of cereals, legumes and oilseeds. The aim of the research is to study the impact of resource-saving technologies in grain-shallow eight-field crop rotation based on the minimization of tillage on its water-physical properties and biological activity, as well as the accumulation of plant residues under the conditions of Northern Kazakhstan. Field experiments were conducted in 2015-2017on ordinary chernozem in the Kostanay Region. The availability of mobile phosphorus is low (P2O5 content in the 0-20 cm layer 80 mg/kg), the availability of nitrogen is average (N-NO3 - 11.2), the availability of mobile potassium is low (K2O - 420 mg/kg), the humus content amounts to 5.4%, pH (water) amounts to 6.6-7.0. It was revealed that with zero cultivation technologies of agricultural crops, the water-physical properties of soils are improved, soil moisture is consumed more economically, and the activity of soil microflora is activated. The results of determining the volume mass of the soil showed that for this indicator, there are no significant differences between the options for crop cultivation technologies. In terms of total reserves of plant residues on the surface and in the upper (0-10 cm) layer of soil, on average, for all non-shallow forecrops, the zero technologies were superior to traditional ones by 57.5%. The excess of the amount of plant residues in favor of herbicide vapors over traditional (mechanical) ones was 105.1%. At all stages of growth and development of agricultural crops a more economical use of soil moisture can be observed against the background of zero tillage. More stubble and crop residues while minimizing mechanical treatments of the soil contribute to less evaporation of moisture from the soil surface. For the most crops involved in the experiment, a more intensive decomposition of linen fabrics occurred in the soil with zero cultivation technologies. This is an indirect evidence of higher activity of soil microflora, in particular cellulose-destroying fungi, in this agricultural system.