Efficiency of grass-field crop rotation in the foothill zone of the RSO – Alania

Abstract

Relevance. Crop rotations remain a key element of modern agricultural systems and solve the whole range of tasks for the rational use of land, the reproduction of soil fertility, its protection from erosion, the protection of the environment and the entire agricultural landscape.Methodology. Field studies were conducted on leached chernozem with a close occurrence of pebbles in the conditions of the forest-steppe zone of the RSO – Alania. The experiment was placed by the method of organized repetitions, the repetition of the experiment is three-fold, the variants were placed by the method of trial plots, the shape of the plot is rectangular. The total area of the plot is 240 m², the accounting area is 186 m². The tab of experiments, phenological observations, and statistical processing of the obtained data were carried out according to the generally accepted methods described in the educational and methodological manual of Adinyaev E.D., Abaev A.A., and Adaev N.L. (2013).Results. In the conditions of the foothill zone of the RSO – Alania, the studied crops of the grass-field crop rotation had a positive effect on the structural and aggregate properties of the soil, the water resistance of soil aggregates, as well as on the productivity and energy potential of the cultivated crops. Clover and winter wheat had the most favorable effect on the soil structure, having a longer growing season, a welldeveloped root system, providing better protection of the soil in autumn and spring from the destructive effects of atmospheric precipitation. Row crops in this respect had a low rating. The ability to form structures in potatoes is particularly weak. As a result of the research, it was found that the studied soil has a good structural condition, since it contains from 52.1 to 55.8% of water-bearing aggregates. It was found that the volume mass varied for all crops of the crop rotation. By the end of the growing season, almost all variants showed a tendency to increase the volume mass. In general, the average soil density under all crops was optimal throughout the study period. The highest yield of feed units was noted for the following variants: oats + clover – 9.83 t/ha, clover – 9.49 t/ha, corn – 9.49 t/ha. More digestible protein was contained in the clover crop, the rest of the crops were about the same level. The grass link is more productive, where the collection of feed units and digestible protein significantly exceeded the indicators of the rowed link (7.96 t/ha – grass link and 6.33 t/ha – rowed link).