THE MAIN STAGES OF STUDIES ON SOIL EROSION IN THE STEPPE ZONE
The purpose of the study was to analyze the main stages of studies devoted to soil erosion in the steppe zone, as connected with peculiarities of the steppes economic development. The source-study analysis was based on the comparative-historical method and was conducted using published research materials of Russian scientists of the XVIII-XXI centuries. The analysis of the history of scientific research on soil erosion in the steppe zone showed that Russian scientists had responded to the problems of steppe nature management and actively participated in the development of measures to control erosion, throughout the whole period of intensive development of agriculture in the steppe zone. The measures they had developed were complex in nature and were based on steppe afforestation, the regulation of the steppe rivers outflow, the consolidation of sands, the introduction of anti-erosion crop rotations, the use of anti-erosion soil treatment measures and the balanced system of organic and mineral fertilizers application. All these provisions have been embodied in the design and application of landscape adaptive farming systems that ensure the ecological stability of the agrolandscape and the reproduction of soil fertility.