Impact of tillage and fertilisation on organic matter accumulation and soil fertility

The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of traditional, minimum and no-till tillage in combination with organic fertilisation methods, such as green manure, organic compost and green manure. The study was based on field experiments conducted on plots with different soil types, which was used to assess the impact of the applied agricultural technologies in different agroecological conditions. The results showed that no-till with combined fertilisation (NPK + manure) provided the highest increase in soil organic matter (SOM) by 0.7% (up to 3.4% in 2024) and humus by 0.5% (up to 2.6% in the 0-10 cm layer) compared to the control (1.7% SOM for ploughing). The nitrogen (N) content increased by 0.04% (to 0.16%), phosphorus (P) by 7 mg/kg (to 57 mg/kg), and potassium (K) by 20 mg/kg (to 140 mg/kg). Deep ploughing resulted in a loss of SOM (from 2.3% to 1.7%), while minimum tillage-maintained SOM at 2.1-3.3%. Organic fertilisers (manure, green manure) stabilised humus with a correlation of r=0.85-0.90 (p<0.05), while no-till increased soil moisture by 10-15% and cation exchange by 510%. On fertile soils (Eutric Cambisol), no-till with combined fertiliser increased the SOM by 0.7%, while on sandy soils (Quartzipsamment) organic fertiliser added 0.4%. The ANOVA analysis confirmed the significant effect of tillage (F=45.2, p<0.001) and fertiliser (F=38.7, p<0.001) on the SOM. The seasonal dynamics showed a peak in the spring (3.6% in 2023 for no-till). No-till with combined fertiliser was found to be the most effective. The results obtained can be useful for improving agricultural technologies in the field of organic farming, developing ecological farming systems and formulating practical recommendations for farmers and agronomists on optimal soil resource management