Assessment of quality and prospects of application of the Orel peat in agriculture

Peat is used as biofuel, fertilizer, a source of humates and stimulators of plant growth and development. There are 78 peat deposits in the Orel region, which up to date are not fully utilized or studied. The area of peat bogs is 8311 ha. The main known peat deposits are Khotynetsky and Shablykinsky ones. This article is devoted to the study of peat in these deposits. The authors considered information on the status of peat bogs in the Orel region, analyzed the available data on the chemical composition of peat and the prospects for its use in crop production. Peat samples of the Khotynetsk and Shablykinsk deposits are studied. The effect of extracts of peat samples containing humic acids on the growth and development of pea seedlings was studied. It was established that the Orel peat of the Khotynetsk and Shablykinsk regions does not differ significantly in chemical composition. The difference between lowland and highland peat is, first of all, in the higher acidity of lowland compared to highland. The organic matter content of the upper Khotynets peat and the lowland Shablykinsky is 87-90%. The mass fraction of nitrogen in Khotynetsk peat is higher than in the lowland Shablykinsky peat and is 2.3% compared with 1.46% in the second one. The mass fraction of phosphorus and potassium in the two types of peat is approximately the same and averages 0.015% and 0.025%, respectively. Alkaline extracts, where humic acids pass, at a dilution of 1: 100 and 1: 1000 positively affect the germination of pea seeds and the development of seedlings. All this makes promising the use of Orel peat as a source of humic fertilizers and regulators of growth and development of agricultural plants.