Agrophysical condition as a criterion of readiness of degraded chornozem to minimalization of tillage in agrocenosis

Goal. To determine agrophysical criteria for assessing the condition of heavily regraded podzolized chornozem (hereinafter — degraded chernozem) for systematic surface tillage by assessing the differential porosity, productivity, and energy efficiency compared to the systematic plowing, as well as to assess the possibility of further minimization of cultivation in short crop rotation in the Central Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. Methods: field, laboratory, comparative and mathematical. Results. During surface treatment, the density of the structure of 0–30 cm layer of degraded chornozem by median was higher by 0.03 g/cm3, and the typed density range was the same regardless of the method of cultivation of degraded chornozem for growth of its the upper and lower typical values on 0.02 g/cm3 at surface tillage. The coefficient of variation of the density of the structure during plowing was 1.85 times higher than at the surface tillage. The calculation of differential porosity for different methods of cultivation under 5 crops for the 6th year of the experiment shows that in the spring the density of the structure with systematic surface tillage was higher compared to plowing by 0.06 g/cm3, total porosity — by 3%, the volume of slits with air was lower by 6.0%. Under such conditions, the ratio of the volume of slits with moisture to the volume of slits with air reached the optimal level (1:1), while in plowing the ratio of categories of slits was in favor of slits with air. Conclusions. Systematic application of plowing and soil-protective surface tillage in 5-field crop rotation provides similar yield in terms of productivity, energy efficiency, and yield of grain and fodder units. If for plowing productivity indicators were stable relative to the average, then for tillage they have an increasing trend, which is due to the end of the transition period from the end of plowing and the transition to the previous deep chiseling with subsequent transition to systematic surface tillage at depth of 10–12 cm.