The effect of autumn water-charging irrigation on spring moisture reserves

Abstract

Spring irrigation, including autumn irrigation, is carried out for the conditions of the Siberian region on long-seasonally freezing soils, mainly to make up for spring moisture deficiency in the soil. The purpose of the research is to determine the norms of autumn water-charging irrigation to compensate for the spring moisture deficiency in the active soil layer. The forest-steppe zone of the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory is characterized by low-snow winters and frequent spring winds, when those small snow reserves are completely blown off the soil surface. By the beginning of sowing crops or at the beginning of the growing season of perennial grasses, the soil lacks moisture. Moisture-charging irrigation is usually carried out with large norms for deeper soaking of the soil. At the same time, most of the moisture is lost to infiltration into deeper soil horizons beyond the root layer. We conducted studies on the effect of norms of 50 and 100 mm in the form of autumn moisture-charging irrigation on the content of moisture reserves in the soil in the spring of next year. Charging irrigation helps to obtain a well-developed green mass of plants, which earlier and more densely cover the soil surface from excessive heating by the sun, which is important in the conditions of the arid zone. Stronger seedlings further make fuller use of soil nutrients and precipitation moisture, as well as irrigation water.