INFLUENCE OF POTATO PLANTING AND CARE METHODS ON SOIL STRUCTURAL STATE

The objective of research is to study the influence of potato planting and care methods on the structural state of ocher-volcanic soil, the height and cross-sectional area of the ridge. The studies were conducted in Kamchatka, on the experimental plots of the Kamchatka Research Institute of Agriculture – VIR branch in 2022–2024. The field experiment is two-factor: factor A – Geyser, Vulcan and Fresco potato varieties; factor B – a set of agricultural practices for planting and caring for potatoes. According to the experimental design, four combinations of technological practices were studied. According to the field research data, it was established that soil rolling when planting potatoes helps to increase the valuable fraction of soil aggregates: 5 mm – by 0.9–2.5 %; 3 mm – 0.8–0.9; 1 mm – 0.5–0.9; 0.5 mm – 1.3–1.6 %; The soil structure increased by 3.6–5.2 % compared to the control and amounted to 77.8 and 79.4 %, the structure coefficient increased by 0.6–0.9. After ridge formation and soil loosening during the mass emergence period, the percentage of macroaggregates ranging in size from 5 to 0.5 mm averaged 79.3–82.8 % across all experimental variants over three years (73.2 % in the control). The highest structural coefficient was observed in the ridge-formed variants, with increases of 1.4 and 2.1, respectively, compared to the control. Before potato harvesting, these indicators decreased to 76.0–80.0 % (73.5 % in the control). The structural coefficient was higher by 1.2 and 0.7, respectively. In these same treatments, a redistribution of macroaggregates was observed during the mass emergence phase and before harvesting. The amount of 5 mm, 3 mm, and 2 mm macroaggregates increased by 10.0–13.9 % and 8.3–9.6 %, respectively, compared to the control, while the 1 mm and 0.5 mm fractions decreased by 1.7–4.3 % and 3.1–4.4 %, respectively. In all treatments, a reduction in ridge size occurred by harvesting due to natural conditions. By this time, the largest ridge size remained during ridge formation, with its height being 2.8 and 3.0 cm higher than the control, and its cross-sectional area being 155.5 and 168.0 cm2 higher, respectively.