CHANGES IN HUMUS CONTENT IN TYPICAL HEAVY LOAMY CHERNOZEM UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF SUGAR AND CANNING WASTE

Abstract

The article shows the influence of waste from sugar and canning industries on the change in the humus content in a typical heavy loamy black soil. The positive impact of waste on this indicator is established. The best options are the combined application of 60 and 90 t/ha of defecate and pomace. Studies have shown that when using waste from sugar and canning production, the humus content in the soil varied in different ways. The process of humus accumulation was most active when defecate and pomace were applied together at a rate of 60 and 90 t/ha. This is explained by the improvement of the physical and chemical properties of the soil: the structure improves, the density decreases, and gas exchange increases. Under these conditions, aerobic microflora predominantly develops, and denitrification processes decrease, which leads to the development of bacillary forms of bacteria and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms. Approaching the reaction of the environment towards neutral gradually increases the intensity of decomposition of organic substances, improves the biosynthesis process, while narrowing the ratio of carbon and nitrogen and increasing the content of the most valuable humic acids. The humus content in this variant increased by 0.12–0.13% compared to the control. In the variants with the application of pomace alone, the humus content remained practically unchanged and averaged 3.64% in the variants, while the control was 3.62%. The positive effect of joint application of waste on the accumulation of humus was observed for three years and under both crops that were studied. It is clear that the change in soil humus content in one year is too small, but the established upward trend suggests that with systematic application (once every 3–5 years), the humus content will increase, with a positive balance of nutrients in the variants of joint application of defecate and pomace. The data obtained will allow us to expand knowledge about the peculiarities of utilization of sugar and canning waste, protect the environment from pollution, and develop recommendations for the use of sugar and canning waste as fertilizer for agricultural crops, which will increase arable land productivity and improve soil fertility.