Agrophysical properties of soil and yield of spring barley for various predecessors and mineral fertilizers in the Central Black Earth Region

Abstract

The research is devoted to the study of the influence of precursors and mineral fertilizers, applied in various doses, on the agrophysical properties of the soil, the value of the grain yield of spring barley in the soil and climatic conditions of the Central Black Earth region. The field experiment was based on the long-term hospital of Belgorod State Agrarian University named after V. Ya. Gorin. As an object, the variety of spring barley Knyazhich, recommended for the region, was chosen. The soil of the experimental plot is typical chernozem, medium loamy granulometric composition on loess-like loam. The experiment scheme (4×4) provided for the study of four gradations of factor A (predecessors: corn for grain - control, sunflower, sugar beet, soybeans) and factor B (doses of mineral fertilizers: N10P10K10 - control, N30P30K30, N50P50K50, N70P70K70). Growth and development of spring barley plants in 2018-2020 took place in meteorological conditions characterized as arid with a predominance of elevated temperatures and insufficient precipitation during the critical phases of plant vegetation. The results of field experiments established that the water and agrophysical properties (density and structural-aggregate composition) of the soil under the influence of previous crops approached the optimal values and changed insignificantly. Increased doses of mineral fertilizers had a positive effect on the value of the yield of barley grain according to the studied predecessors. The highest grain yield over the years of research was obtained at high N50P50K50 and intensive N70P70K70 backgrounds for the predecessors of soybeans and sugar beets and amounted to 5.48 and 5.03 t/ha and 5.33 and 5.32 t/ha, respectively. This was higher than the control of corn for grain 0.82 and 0.37 t/ha and 0.62 and 0.61 t/ha, while for sunflower it decreased to 4.06 and 4.71 t/ha and was at the level with the control.