Qualitative composition of humus and physical and chemical properties of typical chernozem depending on the fertiliser system

Abstract

The soil-forming process is closely related to the accumulation and circulation of organic substances, which are a source of nutrients for plants released during the mineralisation of humus, so research on determining the qualitative composition of humus is relevant. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to determine humic and fulvic acids in typical chernozem, depending on the fertiliser system. The leading approaches to solving this problem are conducting field and laboratory studies to determine the quality indicators of humus and dispersion methods to establish the accuracy and reliability of experimental data. Based on the conducted studies, it was observed that the application of an organo-mineral fertiliser system leads to an increase in the content of humic acids, while the insoluble residue shows an increase in carbon content. The utilisation of organo-mineral fertilisers resulted in a reduction in the excessive accumulation of non-humified organic substances. Additionally, the soils in these areas exhibited a higher level of organic substance humification. The combination of organic matter at a rate of 11.5 tonnes per hectare (8 tonnes of manure and 3.5 tonnes of by-products) and mineral fertilizer N27P38K45 in a crop rotation resulted in an increasing trend of the buffering capacity of typical chernozem soil. In this scenario, there was an increase in absorption capacity at the end of the second rotation for grain-legume crop rotation by 6.05 mg/equiv per 100 g, specialised grain-legume rotation by 3.9 mg/equiv per 100 g, and legume rotation by 3.06 mg/equiv per 100 g of soil compared to the beginning of the first rotation. The use of organo-mineral fertilisers increases the third fraction of fulvic acids in specialised grain-legume rotation, which affects the ratio of humic acids to fulvic acids in favour of the humic type of humus formation. The ratio of humic acids to fulvic acids in the grain-planting crop rotation in the organo-mineral system was 2.84 at the end of the second rotation, and 2.24 at the beginning of the first rotation. The research materials are of practical importance for farmers when analysing the fractional-group composition of typical chernozem humus