The effect of No-till technology on the content of suppressive and pathogenic microflora in the soil

   The paper presents the results of research in a long-term (2012-2021) stationary experiment on the formation of soil biota in the cultivation of crops by No-till technology compared with conventional technology in the Stavropol Territory. The same varieties and hybrids, doses of mineral fertilizers, sowing dates, seed rates, weed and pest control methods were used in the experiment. It was found that plant residues that permanently remain on the soil surface in the No-till technology contribute to greater proliferation of soil microflora, which inhibits the development of pathogenic microbiota stronger than in the technologies with tillage. Therefore, after two rotations of the four-field crop rotation soybean-winter wheat-sunflower-corn, 13 125 colony-forming units (CFU) of pathogenic microscopic fungi of Fusarium, Alternaria, Cladosporium and Cephalosporium were found in 1 g of soil in this technology. In the recommended technology, their diversity increased to five (the genus Verticillium was added) and their number increased to 24,125 CFU/g. The saprophytic microflora in the recommended technology was represented by two genera of micromycetes Penicillium and Aspergillus with 48 250 CFU/g, while in the technology No-till, in addition to these fungi the fungi of the genus Trichoderma were present, and their total number was 56 750 CFU/g. That is, in the recommended technology, the quantity of saprophytic microflora was recorded 1.9 times, and in No-till technology 4.3 times higher than the pathogenic microflora. For this reason, the No-till technology did not increase the incidence of diseases of cultivated crops compared to the recommended technology, which had no significant impact on the yield, which on average for two rotations of crop rotation was higher in the No-till technology.

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