Increasing the productivity of soybean and winter wheat by improving water supply of crops
The aim of the research at the Armavir experimental station of V.S. Pustovoit All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops was to identify the most efficient way to preserve productive moisture reserves in the root layer of the soil, by reducing its unproductive losses in the cultivation of soybeans and winter wheat. In field experiments on ordinary chernozem, we studied the complex use of subsurface and mulching materials and their impact on crop productivity in crop rotation. The polymeric moisture absorbent (hydrogel) was introduced to a depth of 9-10 cm at a dose of 400 kg per ha simultaneously with soybean sowing. After receiving seedlings, the rows were covered with mulching materials. The black-and-silver film was the most efficient of the tested materials, which has high reflective properties and contributes to an increase in soybean productivity by 13.5%. In variants using non-woven materials and finely divided chalk, the increase in productivity was not so significant. The ability of polymeric hydrogel to accumulate additional reserves of soil moisture during the autumn-winter period contributed to the increase in the productivity of the subsequent crop rotation - winter wheat on average by 21.7% (in 2017 - by 30%). The complex application of soil moisture absorbents with covering film materials on soybean crops led to an increase in its productivity, on average for three years, by 17.8% (in 2016, this increase was 32.2%). The increased productivity of the studied crops is primarily due to the optimization of the water regime of the plowed horizon, as well as the preservation of additional reserves of productive moisture in the root layer of the soil and the reduction of its diffusion evaporation.