THE IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY ON THE BALANCE OF NUTRITIONAL SUBSTANCES IN SOILS OF ZHYTOMIR REGION

Abstract

It is known that in Ukraine agriculture is much more developed than industry. This is due to the presence in our country of high-yielding lands, in particular, the black earth, which is a national wealth and protected by the constitution of Ukraine. This is what determines Ukraine’s belonging to the agrarian states of the world. As a result, the level of land plowing in our country is quite high, and the acreage occupies a considerable share of agricultural land. On the other hand, intensive involvement of land in the production of agricultural products leads to a deterioration of the soil condition, reducing their natural fertility. The lack of tight control by the state on the use of land by producers only exacerbates the effects of anthropogenic impact on soil quality. The Zhytomyr region is located in the Polissya and Forest-Steppe zones. The predominant soil type in its territory is sod-podzolic (more than 60.0%), with humus content up to 1.5%. Such soils are typical of northern part of the region. The forest-steppe part of Zhytomyr region is characterized by more fertile soils with humus content of more than 2.5%. The acreage of Zhytomyr region is 648,1 thousand hectares. Agricultural enterprises mainly have a grain direction, since in the structure of acreage the major part is occupied by grain and legumes, corn for grain, sunflower, soybean and rapeseed. The areas with the highest share of arable land are Andrushivskiy, Berdychivskiy, Ruzhinskiy, Popilnyanskiy, Chudnivskiy, Chernyakhivskiy and Brusylivskiy, with an area of arable land 38.2–53.6% of the total area of the district. Minerals and organic fertilizers are not sufficiently used in the agricultural system of the region. This is evidenced by the negative nutrient balance, which amounts to 35.5 tonnes from the entire acreage. With regard to mineral fertilizers, it is used more intensively by producers than organic fertilizers cultures. Fertilized areas in the sections of Zhytomyr region are shown on the corresponding map diagrams. According to our research, Chudnivskiy (2.54%), Andrushivskiy (2.62%), Zhytomyrskiy (2.63%) and Ruzhynskiy (2.9%) regions have the highest weighted average humus. It is in this area that land use can be considered environmentally sound. In total, 838888 tones of humus were formed in the area under crops at an area of 607.1 thousand hectares. However, the main share in the process of humification is plant residues, not organic fertilizers. Therefore, the low level of fertilizer use by agricultural enterprises causes a shortage of nutrients in the soil of the acreage and indicates the irrational use of land in agricultural production.