Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXIV, Issue 2
Written by Larysa SHEDIEI, Аngela KUTOVA, Pavlo PANOV, Ievgen SKRYLNYK, Viktoriia HETMANENKO
Organic farming as a system of sustainable crop production with maintaining soil fertility has an increasing interest because of its environmental benefits. Here we report changes of soil chemical indicators of virgin Meadow Chernozem after 8-years and 36-years of organic farming in Central Ukraine. We evaluate the effect of biological fertilizers application (manure, crop residues etc.) under reduced tillage (disking to 10-12 cm) on organic carbon and available nutrients content in 0-10 and 15-25 cm soil layers. Long-term organic farming increased N-NO3 and N-NH4 content in a soil and contributed to solubilization of phosphorus compounds. The decrease of soil organic carbon by 27% was found after 8-years of organic farming compared to initial content in topsoil; nevertheless biological fertilizers application during 36-years led to gradual replenishment of the soil organic carbon pool.
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