Drawdown of biophilic elements under winter barley, and maintaining fertility of black soils of Western Ukraine

Abstract

Climate stabilisation and soil fertility strategies that capture carbon as soil organic matter lag because of ambiguity in stoichiometry, ionomics, and correlations between key chemical components of soil productivity. We analyse the mutual influence of C, N, P, Ca, S, Mg, and K content, N content, microelements, and the yield of winter barley in Luvic Greyzemic Phaeozems of the Ukrainian Western Forest-Steppe. Depletion of biophilic element stocks occurred only with a significant increase in the yield of winter barley which ranged from 6.6 to 7.4 t/ha compared to unfertilised control plots yielding 4.4–4.6 t/ha. The 6 × 6 correlation matrix of the elements indicates 16 significant relationships out of the 21 calculated. Heavy fertiliser application (N120P60K60) combined with a nitrification inhibitor poses no great risk of soil depletion but does require supplementation with sulphur-containing Ca and Mg fertilisers and micronutrients.