Assessment of the Effectiveness of Different Drainage Systems in Mineral Heavy Loamy Soil; Parameters, Regimes, and Requirements for Drainage System Reconstruction

An assessment of plastic trenchless and tile trench drainage impact on the physical and chemical properties of mineral gumbo soils, formed in noncarbonate loesslike loamy sediments, with medium and low water permeability (CF 0.1–0.3 m day–1) has been provided. The specificity of water regime in grey forest soils with different degrees of gumboization in years with different humidity levels is revealed. In spring and autumn, two-tier perched water is formed in the gumbo soil profile, causing a decrease in the crop yields or their death. A drainage system is shown to divert the perched water away. Tile trench and plastic trenchless drainage systems have similar effects on the agroecological and hydrological properties of the study soils. Transformation of the physical and chemical properties and the humus state of soils drained by drainage systems of different types has been ascertained. The long-term research in plastic and tile drainage aftereffects allow us to study the evolution of drained soils and adjacent landscapes. The parameter for the carbon content in the Fe–Mn ortsteins is first proposed based on 30-year research in heavy loamy soils and ferromanganese concretions in order to measure the degree of soil hydromorphism, first, and to assesses the drainage system function effectiveness relative to the appropriateness of their reconstruction, second.