This section analyses the technologies and means of traditional deep loosening as an agro-ameliorative measure, and their inconsistency with the requirements for improving the technology of water regulation of ameliorated lands in changing climatic conditions is determined. Therefore, it is advisable to switch from the traditional and most widespread technologies of slot and strip loosening to continuous loosening in profile and area, as well as differentiated loosening of deep soil horizons. It is proved that improved deep loosening can be the most effective means of ensuring the necessary filtration and simultaneous accumulation of excess soil moisture to ensure maximum productivity of ameliorated land throughout the entire growing season. Its implementation in the conditions of Polesie of Ukraine contributed to the improvement of water-physical properties, water permeability, and accumulating ability of the most common drained sod-podzolic soil, which provided an increase in the yield of cultivated crops by 20 ... 40%
TopBackground
In today's world, environmental problems from the man-made use of water and land resources are becoming more acute, among which food, energy and water are relevant. All of them are interconnected and are currently one of the global problems of mankind in terms of its further normal environmental development. In particular, this applies to the rational use of water and land resources of agricultural lands of the water complex and technical means of their processing.
Polesie is a unique physical and geographical region, which is located on the territory of the Polesie lowland almost in the center of Europe, is a peculiar landscape region of the Eastern European physical and geographical region, has an area of about 300 thousand km2.
Polesie of Ukraine is a flat sandy-swampy plain with close occurrence to the daily surface of groundwater and with insignificant runoff. The region is characterized by a fairly temperate climate and uneven rainfall at different times of the year. The soil background of the region is sod-podzolic clay-sandy or sandy soils, sod gley clay-sandy, as well as meadow gley sandy soils. In the Polesie area in the summer due to changes in weather and climatic conditions of the area waterlogging alternates with a lack of moisture. The impact of drainage on mineral wet soils is ambiguous. After reducing excessive moisture, the arable layer due to regular tillage acquires favorable properties, and deeper - gley and compacted soil layers, when drained retain and, often, even worsen their existing properties.
Polesie is a unique natural complex. Amelioration has become a significant factor in the socio-economic transformations of this region and plays an important role in the development of economic sectors. Ameliorated waterlogged lands are important in the humid zone of Ukraine, and they are the only guarantors of stable farming and the creation of a reliable forage base to meet the needs of animal husbandry, regardless of weather and climatic conditions in many regions. Therefore, the Polesie zone of Ukraine is the main area for drainage amelioration.
The water management complex is a fairly capital-intensive sector of agricultural production. To maintain the high productivity of waterlogged soil, it is recommended to carry out a number of agromeliorative practices simultaneously with the drainage device, aimed at increasing the accumulating capacity of the active soil layer, improving the surface and subsoil runoff, and enriching the soil with nutrients.
In today's variable climatic conditions, when theamount and intensity of precipitation, temperature conditions change, the implementation of existing water management technologies on ameliorated lands can further increase the inefficiency of their use. This is manifested in the fact that the unevenness of precipitation and the traditional haphazard drainage of excess water into the open network by drainage systems create significant fluctuations in the groundwater level and the moisture content of the root layer of drained lands during the growing season that leads to inefficient use of natural water reserves in the soil. In this case, the lower soil layers become almost waterproof under conditions of long-term operation (Ward, Flower, Cordingley, Weeks, Micin, 2012; Iglesias, Garrote, 2015; Hamzaa, Anderson, 2005).
Despite the fact that the average rainfall over the growing season is 250...400 mm, due to a change in established climatic regimes, crops suffer either from waterlogging with an increase in the intensity and amount of rainfall over a short period of time, or from overdrying of the soil with excessive dry season evaporation. As a result, this leads to crop losses of up to 30...40%. Amelioration and further agricultural land use change the direction and pace of development of soil processes, as well as the water-physical properties of soil. In general, their productivity increases, but at the same time, they do not completely eliminate the negative soil properties in relation to cultivated crops (Iglesias & Garrote, 2015; Medvedev, Laktionova, & Pocheptsova, 2004; Havrysh et al., 2013).
Current climate changes require urgent actions to adapt to them, including industrial agricultural production.