The effect of soil tillage on symbiotic activity of soybean crops

Volodymyr Hanhur, Mykola Marenych, Liudmyla Yeremko, Svitlana Yurchenko, Olena Hordieieva and Irina Korotkova

Abstract: This study is devoted to consideration of the practical aspect of atmospheric nitrogen biological fixation by soybean plants.This fixation is considered in terms of physiological-biochemical processes taking place at binding the inert nitrogen molecule in nitrogenous compounds accessible to plants. Searching the ways of intensifying the process of nitrogen fixation to obtain maximal yields of high-quality protein products appears to be an important practical task. It has been demonstrated that the role of soil tillage practices connected with the possibilities of soybean symbiotic nitrogen fixation, being among many factors capable of affecting this process, has not been sufficiently studied. To study effect of soil tillage and seed inoculation on soybean productivity field trials during the period from 2016 to 2018 were conducted. The following main soil treatment techniques were used: deep tillage (20–22 cm), shallow tillage of two types: up to 14–16 cm and to 12–14 cm depth. Various types of cultivators forming different degree of soil dispersity by its crumbling, fluffing, partial mixing, and also flattening the field surface were used for soil shallow tillage. It was established that inoculated soybean plants are able to uptake the maximal quantity of fixed nitrogen181.2 kg/ha under shallow tillage (12–14 cm), flattened and moderately compacted soil surface. Obtaining the highest soybean yield of 2.42 t/ha as compared with other soil tillage practices as shallow tillage (14–16 cm) and deep tillage under which the yields were 2.24 and 2.01 t/ha, respectively, was the result of such farm practices.

Keywords: pre-sowing tillage; soybean; symbiotic activity; yield

Date published: 2020-04-30