A. L. Kindeev

Th e article discusses the current approaches to the assessment of the heterogeneity of soil properties. On the example of the experimental plot (106 ha) of the RUNE “Grodno Zonal Institute of Plant Industry of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus” it is shown that ignoring the intra-fi eld heterogeneity leads to even more signifi cant diff erences. On the experimental fi eld, using satellite images and multi-temporal indices EVI, microplots with an area of 50 to 200 m2 with а signifi cantly reduced level of eff ective fertility, up to the death of plants, were identifi ed, on the basis of which а sampling grid was developed. During the fi eld work, 214 pHKCl samples were taken with а sampling step of 70 m and 53 additional samples in the “problem areas”. Using geostatistical methods, data on the spatial heterogeneity of pHKCl were obtained, the degree of spatial dependence and the accuracy of the results obtained were estimated for various numbers of samples (107, 216, and 268 points). Further use of stochastic modeling made it possible to construct high-precision cartograms of acidity with а pixel resolution of 4 m and 12 m. We also showed that the use of cell sizes less than the processing device is not useful for solving applied issues of precision farming. Probabilistic-statistical models were obtained, represented by cartograms of mean square errors and the probability of the phenomenon. Th e resulting cartograms showed the presence of ultra-acidic soils in the “problem zones”; such а reaction also determines the presence of toxic aluminum compounds and extremely low calcium and magnesium contents, which jointly lead to the absence of seedlings of cultivated vegetation. А detailed accounting of soil acidity in comparison with а classical agrochemical survey provided savings of $ 2807 by the application of СаС03, which made it possible to fully compensate for the additional costs of taking and analyzing а larger number of samples.

The article discusses one of the ways to assess the condition of soil cover to improve the efficiency of land management using the example of the Volozhin region of the Republic of Belarus. A comprehensive assessment of the agrochemical and natural potential of the soil is proposed by means of typing the soil cover depending on agrochemical indicators (pH_KCl, humus content, mobile compounds of phosphorus and potassium) and a quality score reflecting the natural state of the soil. Using geostatistical methods, the values of agrochemical indicators were interpolated from elementary areas into areas of soil varieties of agricultural lands and classified according to the degree of content of agrochemical elements that made up the agrochemical potential (AP). After crossing the AP with the bonitet score, 9 groups of soils were identified according to soil-agrochemical potential (SAP), of which the largest share (58,2 %) is occupied by soils with average potential (61,950 ha). Based on the results of a spatial assessment of the PAP, it was determined that sod-podzolic and sod-podzolic swampy soils developing on light loams and cohesive sandy loams have the greatest potential. It was also revealed that areas with low PAP gravitate towards the most dissected areas of the terrain with sandy and cohesive sandy soils. Based on the typification carried out, the main types of preferred land use in the Volozhin region were determined: more than half of the agricultural land can be used for intensive agricultural use for arable land (52,1 %) and meadows (12,5 %), traditional land use is possible for 29,3 % territories and only 6,2 % of lands require the use of soil protection farming systems, primarily focused on erosion-hazardous areas of the area.