Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXV, Issue 2
Written by Lilia BOAGHE, Iurii ROZLOGA, Olesea COJOCARU, Natalia ȘALAGHINA, Andrei DANILOV
Chernozems have been and will continue to be the main base of agricultural production. The statements of the founder of soil science, Dokuchaev V.V., that chernozems are and will be the breadwinner and the main breadbasket of mankind, remain truly modern. Fertile chernozem is the main base for agricultural and crop production. Soil scientists consider it the main granary of mankind, the king of soils). The main purpose of the research is the comparative analysis of the genetic peculiarities of chernozems evolved in natural and arable regime, the appreciation of the indices modified by the agropedogenetic process in the Steppe Area of the Southern Plain of the Republic of Moldova. In the laboratory it was determined: the hygroscopic water content, the density of the solid phase of the soil; particle size and microaggregate composition; hygroscopicity coefficient; humus content; carbonate content; soluble salt content; current reaction (pH); the content of exchangeable cations, etc. A detailed study of morphogenetic properties showed that chernozems under natural vegetation have: a powerful, well-developed soil profile; dark, almost black color, gradually weakening with depth; a well-defined granular structure in most of the humus strata; weakly compacted composition, gradually increasing in the lower horizons; the absence of noticeable signs of eluvial-illuvial differentiation of the soil profile; uneven, lingual boundary of the transition of the humus horizon into the parent rock; the presence of a carbonate horizon, confined, as a rule, to the lower boundary of the humus stratum and characterized by various forms of carbonate neoformations. The thickness of the natural soil profiles (profile 13) and arable soil (profile 14) up to the parent rock varies from 160 cm to 151 cm accordingly and is certified as strong deep. The soil corresponds to the non-carbonate class, the carbonates being absent in horizon A. The maximum content of carbonates is registered in the BC horizon and constitutes 11.9% in the natural one and 10.7% in the arable one.
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