Effect of basic tillage on soil moisture storage before spring crop sowing under different agro-climatic conditions

Abstract

The generalized findings of field experiments on the distribution of spring moisture storage in the soil on two farms of the Altai Region are discussed. The studies were conducted on the farms of the SPK Kolos, Romanovskiy District, and OOO Virt, Tselinniy District, the Altai region, from 2009 through 2023. The data on moisture storage and moisture distribution in one-meter soil layer was used. In the SPK Kolos, the fields were tilled by the conventional technology (deep chisel tillage), while in the OOO Virt, without any autumn tillage (No-Till technology). Every year, the spring moisture storage was determined in the fields of each farm to a depth of one meter with an interval of 0.1 m. The wettest and driest years were identified. The average long-term value of moisture storage in the studied fields in the spring was determined. As a result, the patterns of moisture distribution in one-meter layer were determined under conventional tillage technology and without autumn tillage under the conditions of different moisture content. It was found that on the years of maximum soil moisture accumulation in the spring, moisture distribution throughout the soil layers when using the No-Till technology was more uniform than under conventional tillage. On the contrary, on dry years, the uniformity of moisture distribution throughout the layers was, on average, higher under the conventional autumn tillage technology.