Investigation of tillage depth of black fallow impact upon moisture evaporation intensity

Abstract

Despite the current trends to reduce the number of operations, ploughing remains the most important technological operation of tillage. In the regions with insufficient moisture, preservation of moisture in the arable layer of the soil is the most important task, which determines its efficient fertility, affecting the processes that take place in it and ensuring the technological properties during mechanical tillage. To refine the technology and technical means for the implementation of this operation is an urgent scientific and practical task. One of the technological ways how to save and even accumulate the insufficient soil moisture is the black fallow. Yet the achievement of this result is possible only by proper tillage of the fallow. First of all, this concerns the depth of its loosening. To solve this problem under the conditions of an arid climate, particularly under the soil and weather conditions of the south of Ukraine, we studied theoretically and experimentally the heat balance of the treated soil layer of the black fallow. As a result of this study, an equation was obtained for analytical determination of the evaporation rate of the soil moisture from this layer. It has been established by the conducted studies that moisture evaporation on the fallow increases rapidly,when the tillage depth is increased up to 4 cm. The subsequent increase in the parameter causes a further increase in the moisture loss; however, the intensity of this process is significantly reduced. The obtained results of the research made it possible to select and optimise the necessary form of the working tools of the soil tillage machine to be used for tillage of the black fallow.