The Impact of Pre-Cropson the Formation of Water Balance in Winter Wheat Agrocenosis and Soil Moisture in the Steppe Zone

Abstract

Under climate change, the issue of selection and correction of crop cultivation systems in the zone of moisture deficit and risky farming to ensure profitability of production is still topical. In particular, crop rotations are a practice aimed at increasing resistance of soil systems to abiotic and biotic stresses in the zone of moisture deficit. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to identify spatio-temporal regularities of vegetative formation of water balance in winter wheat agrocenoses depending on a pre-crop according to the unified BBCH scale. Spatio-temporal processes of vegetation and water balance formation in winter wheat agrocenosis depending on a pre-crop according to the unified BBCH scale were examined on the basis of the data of decoded satellite image series of the spacecraft Sentinel and calculation of the NDWI and the NDVI values. The research was conducted in the natural-climatic conditions of the Steppe zone of Ukraine, in the territory of Yelanets district, Mykolaiv region, during the vegetative phase of winter wheat variety Driada 1: autumn 2021 and winter, spring and the beginning of summer 2022. It was established that activeness of water balance formation in winter wheat agrocenosis with pea as a pre-crop according to seasonal-phenological stages of plant growth is 3.0–9.0 times higher than with a grain crop (spring barley) and sunflower as pre-crops. In particular, with pea as a pre-crop, the NDVI vegetation of winter wheat plants is 1.6–1.7 times more intensive, the rate of moisture supply NDWI in the plant leaf at the macro-stages BBCH 10–61 is 1.54 and 1.82 times higher, productivity is 1.43–1.56 times higher. We observed a 30.5–34.3% reduction in water consumption for the formation of a ton of winter wheat grain with pea as a pre-crop in comparison with other pre-crops that resulted in an increase in productive moisture reserves at the end of vegetation in a meter soil layer by 20%. It was established that using pea as a pre-crop has economic and environmental benefits that manifest themselves in increasing resistance of soil systems, a reduction in environmental pollution and a rise in profitability of production.