DIFFERENTIATED APPLICATION OF AMELIORANTS IN PRECISION FARMING BASED ON INTRA-FIELD VARIABILITY OF ACIDITY OF SOD-PODZOLIC SOIL

Abstract

The research was conducted at two agricultural testing sites. Correlation analysis of soil acidity and relative altitude confirmed a significant relationship between the indicators, which indicates an indirect effect of relief on the redistribution of pH_KCl. The correlation coefficient on the agro–polygon in Russia was 0.57 – a direct linear dependence, presumably caused by the close occurrence of carbonate underlying rocks, while at the experimental site in Belarus the correlation coefficient was -0.45, which means an inverse, linear relationship and is explained by anthropogenic influence, which indicates the need to take into account the terrain when determining the distribution of soil acidity. To improve the accuracy of soil acidity maps at the experimental site of the farm "Gutko", the sampling grid was crushed, which made it possible to identify the real need for liming. The residual variance in the modeling of variograms on the agro-polygon in the Russian Federation was 0 %, ensuring the maximum possible consideration of the spatial distribution of acidity, in the conditions of Belarus – 29.9%, which underlines the importance of additional research to improve the accuracy of maps. The proposed method of optimizing the costs of soil liming using precision agriculture and geoinformation systems can serve as an effective tool to increase production efficiency and ensure food security. The necessity of taking into account the relief and conducting additional field studies to achieve maximum accuracy of soil acidity maps is emphasized.