Plant, Soil and Environment - In Press

Long-term effects of fertilisation systems on soil nutrient status, soil organic carbon content and crop productivity in a typical Chernozem under different crop rotationsOriginal Paper

Svitlana Remeniuk, Yaroslav Makukh, Vladyslav Riznyk, Snizhana Moshkivska, Tetiana Petrenko, Oleksandr Polovynchuk, Oleh Atamanіuk, Yurii Remeniuk, Ksenia Kopchuk

Abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of fertilisation systems and crop rotation structure on soil nutrient status, OC content and stocks, and crop productivity in a typical Chernozem. The study was conducted during 2020–2024 within a long-term field experiment established in 1976 at the Bila Tserkva Experimental Breeding Station in the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. Four fertilisation treatments were compared in cereal-fodder-row (CFR) and row-crop (RCR) rotations: unfertilised since 1976, mineral fertilisation with straw incorporation, organo-mineral fertilisation, and organic fertilisation. Soil mineral nitrogen, plant-available P, exchangeable K, OC content, and OC stocks were determined in the 0–30 cm soil layer. Crop yields were assessed for sugar beet, spring barley, clover, and soybean. The organo-mineral fertilisation system maintained the most favourable soil nutrient status and the highest residual contents of plant-available P and exchangeable K, whereas the unfertilised treatments generally had the lowest nutrient contents. Over 50 years, OC losses reached 0.47 percentage points, or 16.9 t C/ha, in the CFR crop rotation and 0.53 percentage points, or 19.2 t C/ha, in the RCR crop rotation. The organo-mineral system reduced these losses to 0.26 percentage points (9.3 t C/ha) and 0.45 percentage points (16.3 t C/ha), respectively. It also provided the highest OC stocks, reaching 70.8 and 63.2 t C/ha in the respective crop rotations. The highest mean yields of sugar beet, spring barley, clover, and soybean were generally obtained under the organo-mineral system. Sugar beet root yield reached 46.9 t/ha in the CFR crop rotation and 42.2 t/ha in the RCR crop rotation, compared with 18.8 and 17.1 t/ha, respectively, in the unfertilised treatments. The results demonstrate that combining organic and mineral nutrient sources with crop residue return and an appropriate crop rotation structure is an effective strategy for maintaining typical Chernozem fertility and sustaining crop productivity under unstable moisture conditions.