In the framework of the European mission “Soil Deal for Europe” ambitious tasks have been load to the whole European Union and forming its states in the field of carbon management. Departing from pedo-ecological conditions of Estonia, the pros and cons of the European Union's plans about carbon farming are treated. By the principles of pedocentric approach the soil humus status and carbon farming technologies are soil type specifics and should be utilized in the most detailed as possible soil taxonomic unit, for which by Estonian soil classification are soil species and soil varieties. Thanks to gathering during large scale (1:10,000) soil mapping in earlier time data and proceeding later field experiments in Estonia there are relatively good databases on soil humus status for all most dominated soil species and/or varieties by different land use conditions (arable, grass- and forest lands). The main available quantitative characteristics on soil humus status (expressed via carbon) are concentration (g C kg‒1) and superficial densities (Mg C ha‒1) of organic carbon given by soil species and their genetic horizons in above-named third land use conditions. Besides that, these data have been calculated (1) separately for humus cover (humipedons) and subsoil layers and (2) as well in relation to layers with certain thickness (30, 50 and 100 cm). As a qualitative index of humus status, the humus cover types (humus forms) have been elaborated separately for arable soils and for being in natural state soils. As the carbon concentration in arable soils depends mainly on contents of clay particles, watering conditions and calcareousness, was possible to elaborate for all dominating arable soils three humus (and carbon) concentration levels: scarce, optimal and excess, which are needed for choice of suitable to soil conditions agro technology. There is a declared serious shortage of knowledge on composition of soil organisms’ societies by soil types and on syn- and autecology of their functioning.
The analysis of efficiency’s research of interrelation between soil’s biomass and tillage systems and fertilizers is done. The number of microorganisms responsible for the transformation of nitrogen compounds and their state in typical black soil was studied. There is evidence-based scientific and practical research on the effectiveness of these microbiological processes and the improvement of environmental performance through the various fertilizer systems and soil tillage. The use of an organic-mineral fertilizer system increases the total number of soil microorganisms and exponential mobilization processes, compared to the variant without fertilizers. This pattern is clear in the variants of shelf tillage for row crop rotation. The number of microorganisms that absorb mineral compounds of nitrogen decreased by 24%, bacteria ammonification by 1.5–5.7% compared to plough tillage. The ratio between the number of microorganisms accounted for the nutrient laboratory solutions for organic-mineral fertilizer system, compared to variants without fertilizers, is greater by 20–26% for differentiated and 14–35% for shallow tillage.
In a field experiment, the efficacy of the newly released pre-mixed herbicide, Joystick®, in comparison with other pre-mixed herbicides was evaluated in winter wheat, Iran. The treatments included: weedy check, weed-free check (hand-weeded), Bromicide®MA at 600 g a.i. ha–1 + Axial® at 60 g a.i. ha–1, Othello® at 96 g a.i. ha–1, Axial One® at 55, 65, 75, and 85 g a.i. ha–1, Joystick® at 80, 94, and 108 g a.i. ha–1. The latter three treatments mentioned were applied with and without non-ionic surfactant Citogate® at 0.1% v v–1. The results revealed that all treatments significantly decreased the density and dry biomass of each weed species and increased the grain yield and biological yield of wheat. The highest performing treatment was Bromicide®MA + Axial®, followed by Joystick® at 108 g a.i. ha–1 plus Citogate®. The application of Joystick® at 108 g a.i. ha–1 plus Citogate® decreased the biomass of Malva neglecta, Lolium rigidum, Hirschfeldia incana, Centaurea pallescens, Veronica persica, and Carthamus oxyacantha up to 96.2, 78.1, 100, 91.0, 91.0, and 96.1%; respectively; with an 88% reduction in total weed dry biomass. Because of Joystick® at 108 g a.i. ha–1 plus Citogate® activity against weed species, the grain and biological yields of wheat improved up to 28% as compared to weedy check treatment.
In areas where the supply of water for irrigation is limited, tomato production is often subject to drought stress. This study was conducted at the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Gardening, University of Diyala, Baqubah, Iraq in 2021 wherein 22 genotypes ('S.G', 'San II', 'M.O', 'Red Pear', 'F.R', 'Marb', 15 F1 hybrids were obtained from 6×6 half diallel cross and 'Bobcat' control hybrid) were cultivated under full irrigation [covering 100% of crop evapotranspiration demands (ETc)] and water deficit (50% of ETc) conditions. The results showed that cv. 1×6 produced the longest plants (119.01 cm) and the least time to flowering (10.23 days). Most branches (31.98) were produced by cv. 5×6. Both cvs. 1×6 and 5×6 produced the most leaf area (1 991 and 1 977 cm2 respectively) and most yield per plant (6.75 and 6.84 kg respectively). The 100% ETc irrigation treatment produced the longest plants (91.21 cm), the greatest number of branches (28.12), the most leaf area (1 673 cm2), and the highest plant yield (4.61 kg). The 50% ETc irrigation treatment produced the least time to flowering (13.7 days). Irrigation level lowering to 50% ETc achieved good results for the water use efficiency (WUE) use with predicted R2 = 1.00. Therefore, the results of this study recommend using the interaction of (both cvs. 1×6 and 5×6 irrigated with the 50% ETc treatment) to save water on irrigation and produce a high yield of tomatoes.
The retrospective analysis involved 562 Holstein cows, 545 Ukrainian Black-and-White dairy cows and 100 Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy cows in Breeding Station Terezyne, Kyiv region. The influence of age at first calving and first lactation milk yield on the duration and efficiency of the productive lifespan of cows was studied. The results showed that with the increase of age at first calving from less than 22 to more than 34 months there was a steady tendency to reduction in the longevity and lifetime productivity of cows. There was found a statistically significant (P <0.001) inverse correlation between the age at first calving and indicators of duration and efficiency of productive lifespan (r = –0.177…–0.459). The age at first calving determines 3.0–21.2% of the phenotypic variability of the considered indicators of duration and efficiency of the productive lifespan of cows (P <0.001). According to the set of features, the most rational is the planning of age at first calving before 26 months, i.e. heifers need to be served before 15 months of age. With the first lactation milk yield increases and the duration and efficiency of the productive lifespan of cows increase curvilinearly. Higher longevity is typical for cows with an average 305-d milk yield in the first lactation of 6 001–8 000 kg, and higher lifetime productivity – with the highest milk yield in the first lactation (over 9 000 kg). There was found a relatively low positive correlation between 305-d milk yield in the first lactation and the parity and lifespan (r = 0.087…0.164, P <0.001) and a moderately significant relationship – with lifetime productivity and lifetime daily milk yield (r = 0.327…0.504, P <0.001). The milk yield of primiparous cows has a relatively low impact on the variability of lifespan, productive lifetime and total lactation length (ηx2 = 3.6–5.6%, P <0.001) and a higher impact on the indicators of lifetime milk productivity and milk productivity per one day of life, productive lifetime and lactation (ηx2 = 12.5–35.6%, P <0.001). The productive lifespan of cows with first lactation milk yield over 6 000 kg can be considered quite effective.
