Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF LAND USE IN THE AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE

Denis Ivanovich Gubarev, Viktor Alekseevich Nazarov, Anastasia Nikolaevna Zelenova, Ivan Philippovich Medvedev, Aleksey Andreevich Sineltsev and Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenov

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify the basic criteria and indicators of soil cover, to differentiate them for the justification of spatial facies’ distribution in the study area on the basis of the package of topographic and soil maps obtained during soil agrochemical survey, formed with the use of GIS technologies. The study of the main criteria and indicators of soil fertility, such as the content of humus in the soil, its granulometric composition, soil moisture content and provision of plants with mineral nutrition elements, allows differentiating the soil cover and allocating areas with homogeneous indicators, close in value to soil-ecological parameters, using modern technologies. The structuring of the agricultural landscape space in the conditions of the expressed terrain, changing climate, and new precision technologies diffusion is the key insight in the increase of ecological and energy indicators. Based on obtained soil indicators, four facies were identified. In the transition from the eluvial facies to the transeluvial-accumulative facies, content of humus and other agrochemical parameters in the soil gradually decreases, and then as far as the terrain flattens, their content partially increases. Revealed differentiation of microclimatic indicators shows that the maximum freezing is observed in the eluvial facies, and this is associated with the lowest height of the snow cover. On the contrary the lower accumulative facies, condensing more snow, freeze much less that contributes to the maximum accumulation of melt water with its further flowing down the profile. The information about facies obtained in the research will allow applying technologies differentially, and using more rationally means of intensification of agriculture.