Research into Comparative Performance of Different Tillage and Fertilization Systems Applied to Grey Forest Soil of Forest Steppe in Grain Crop Rotation

The paper summarises the results of the comprehensive scientific research carried out in the form of a two-factor stationary experiment (5 primary tillage systems × 3 fertilization systems) with rotation (2016–2020) of cereal crops (winter wheat – grain maize – spring barley – soybean) in grey forest fine sand and light loam soil. The effectiveness of the tested agricultural production method has been proven by the amplitudes of the actual cropping capacities: winter wheat – 2.80–5.00 t∙ha–1; grain maize – 4.16–8.89 t∙ha–1; spring barley – 1.78–4.45 t∙ha–1; soybean – 1.02–3.17 t∙ha–1. The rehabilitation of the physical, agrochemical and biological status of the edatope and the consolidation of the physiological processes in the grain cenoses achieved by the systemic approach to the soil tillage and fertilisation have provided for an increase in the natural biological potential of the plough land by a factor of 1.3–1.8 (from 2.96 to 5.21 t∙ha–1 of grain units, units for the equivalent measuring of different plant cultivation products). Factographic justification has been provided for the environmental, technological and technical-and-economic feasibility of implementing agronomic technologies based on the adaptive combination of mouldboard and non-mouldboard tillage (to a depth of 6–45 cm) and organic and mineral fertilization system (6.5–7.0 t∙ha–1 of plant cultivation by-products + N70P58K68). In this case, the effective fertility of an area unit in crop rotation reaches 5.72 t∙ha–1 in grain units, the production cost of raised grain – 117 €∙t–1, the earning capacity – 788 € (ha∙year) –1, the level of plant cultivation profitability – 139%. In the comparable alternatives of the system-based soil tillage (every-year ploughing, subsurface blade tillage and especially tillage with disk implements), the indices estimated above are significantly lower.