Usage of biodegradable polymers in crop production

The effectiveness of the usage of subsoil and mulching materials in crop production and their impact on crop productivity were studied in field experiments at the Armavirskaya experimental station of V.S. Pustovoit All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops (Russia, Krasnodar region) in 2016–2018. A polymer absorbent (hydrogel) was introduced to a depth of 9-10 cm at a dose of 400 kg/ha simultaneously with soybean planting. After seedling appearance, the row spacing was protected from drying by mulching materials. As a result of the studies, it was found that in a series of experiments with covering materials, the most effective was a silver film, which has high reflective properties and contributes to an increase in soybean yield by 13.5%. In variants involving non-woven materials and finely divided chalk, the yield increase was not so significant. The complex application of soil moisture absorbers with covering materials in soybean crops, increased its yield, on average of three years, by 17.8% (in 2016, this increase was 32.2 %). The capability of the polymer hydrogel to accumulate additional reserves of soil moisture during the autumn-winter period contributed to the increase in the yield of the next crop in the crop rotation – winter wheat by an average of 21.7% (30% in the conditions of 2017). Increased productivity of the studied crops is due, first of all, to the optimization of the water regime of an arable horizon, as well as the preservation of additional reserves of productive moisture in the root layer of the soil and the reduction of its diffusion evaporation.