On the Issue of Adaptive Landscape Territorial Planning on Abandoned Lands Based on the Results of Barley Yield Prediction

• Published in: Russian agricultural sciences 2023-12, Vol.49 (6), p.608-615
• Main Authors: Ivanov, D. A., Rublyuk, M. V., Kharkhardinov, N. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abandoned land; Agricultural practices; Agricultural production; Agriculture; agroecology; Barley; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cereal crops; Cover crops; Crop yield; Elevation; Farming and Amelioration; Farming systems; Farms; Landscape; landscapes; Life Sciences; Mathematical models; Monitoring; phosphorus content; Plant Biochemistry; research institutions; soil; Soils; yield forecasting
• ISSN: 1068-3674; 1934-8037
• DOI: 10.3103/S1068367423060101

The studies were conducted to assess the suitability of abandoned lands of a particular farm for growing barley by pure and cover cropping methods based on the analysis of the long-term monitoring data on its yield at an agro-ecological testing site. The study considered the long-term (1997–2012) monitoring data on the yield of barley variety Gonor in pure and cover (allowing for additional production) cropping at the Gubino agricultural site of the All-Russia Research Institute of Meliorated Lands. The agricultural site is located 4 km east of the city of Tver, on a hill with a prominence of 15 m, consisting of a flat top, a north facing gentle slope of gradient of 2°–3°, a south facing slope (3°–5°), and inter-hill depressions (northern and southern). Formation patterns of barley yield were identified using statistical and mathematical modeling. Based on the obtained formulas and archival data on a state of the abandoned lands, predictive crop yield surfaces were calculated for the entire territory of the farm. Pure barley crop responds only to the location elevation, while the yield of cover cropping depends on the elevation and gradient of the surface as well as phosphorus content of the soil. A quarter of the farm’s area (the upper hills in the west and south) is potentially capable of providing barley yields in pure crops from 1.4 to 3.3 t/ha; an increased yield (1.1–3.4 t/ha) can be produced by cover cropping on only 20% of the territory lying in the transitional zones between the moraine and valley landscapes. Using only archival data is not always justified; different approaches to the design of farming systems should complement each other. It is necessary to conduct special landscape and soil studies for refinement of the predicted yield.