The change in the macrostructural state of chernozem typical for various technologies of winter wheat cultivation

Relevance. Scientific research on the study of changes in the macrostructural state of typical chernozem was carried out in a field stationary experiment on the influence of agrotechnologies of crop cultivation based on various methods of basic tillage in the Federal State Budgetary Budgetary Institution “Kursky FANTS”. Methods. For to study the structural and aggregate composition of the soil, samples were taken, in 3-fold repetition in layers of 0–10 cm and 10–20 cm, which was determined by the different depth of processing of typical chernozem. In each variant of the experiment, 3 sites with a radius of 5 m were selected along the diagonal of the plot, and within these limits, soil samples of undisturbed composition with a size of 25 × 25 × 10 cm were excavated. The determination of the structural and aggregate composition was carried out using the method of N.I. Savvinov — dry and wet sieving1. Results. As a result of the macrostructural analysis of typical chernozem, it was found that a common pattern for all winter wheat cultivation technologies was the growth of the weighted average diameter of air-dry aggregates (Ds) and the weighted average diameter of particles into which aggregates (having a diameter of D+) disintegrate when moistened (D-) with the depth of the studied layer. An increase in the weighted average diameter of aggregates that collapse during humidification (D+) and the index of instability of the structure to external influences (Rws), as well as a decrease in the weighted average diameter of waterproof aggregates (Dm) and conditionally «stable» aggregates (Ss) in a layer of 10-20 cm with technologies based on minimizing tillage indicates the formation of structural units with high density and low porosity. When cultivating winter wheat using traditional technology, the lowest Ds, Dm, Ss and the highest Rws are noted.