TRANSFORMATION OF TYPES OF CULTIVATION IN CONDITIONS OF THE VOLGOGRAD REGION AND ANALYSIS OF CONSTRAINING FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECT SEEDING TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

According to the complex of soil and climatic factors, the conditions for farming in the
Volgograd Region are generally unfavorable, which is confirmed by data on droughts and
sown areas write-off. The object of research is the types of soil cultivation and their transformation in time from 1960 to the present in the Volgograd Region, the technology of direct seeding in order to identify the constraining factors of its development and expansion in conditions of high soil and climatic contrast. The research technique is generally accepted. In areas of insufficient moisture the main soil cultivation lays down the principles of moisture accumulation and moisture conservation. Chronological analysis of data in the region by types
of soil cultivation shows that the moldboard deep plowing with 79.0% of the amount of work
in the 60s of the last century gradually transformed into soil protective cultivation without soil
overturning by 2020 – 7.1 %, surface tillage – 72.0%, and “systematic direct seeding”, when
the soil is not cultivated – 5.3%. As a result of the introduction of scientific developments and
especially the optimization of soil cultivation, the productivity of grain crops increased 1.8-
2.1 times, advanced farms began to harvest 3-4 t/ha of grain in the zone of light-chestnut soil
and 4-6 t/ha in the zone chernozem soil. The grain yield per 1 mm of precipitation increased
2.5 times. Currently, direct seeding technologies in the Volgograd Region are used in the area
of 220-260 thousand hectares. The limiting factors for the expansion of the cultivation area
with direct seeding technology in the region include the problem of the stable germination of
a winter grains, especially, during dry summer and autumn; increased requirements for technological discipline, technology intensification, selection of previously unknown technical
tools, systemic measures for the formation of water and nutritional regime of soil in areas of
insufficient moisture and, in general, lack of high-quality scientific support of the technology.