On clearing agricultural land from undesirable vegetation as a way to improve soil fertility

Saratov State Agrarian University named after N.I. Vavilov, 410012, 1, Teatralnaya sq., Saratov, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: feht@mail.ru

Abstract

Russia, with its vast reserves of land, is beginning to experience a shortage of soil suitable for growing crops. At present, many agro-industrial companies are facing a shortage of quality farmland, which hinders business development and production ramp-up. However, the country has a large amount of hidden and unused land reserves. For example, such agricultural land includes thousands of hectares of arable land that have been overgrown with undesirable vegetation as a result of many years of mismanagement. Forest massifs and protective forest belts are necessary to create a favorable environmental situation in the growing area. They are also necessary for agricultural use. So the reforestation plantations protect the soil from water and wind erosion. Indeed, in 1940, the Stalin’s plan to create protective forest belts in the steppe zone of the southern Soviet Union, where there was a serious problem of soil erosion, was put into practice. Implementation of this plan continued until 1965, and then the agricultural enterprises maintained the created forest belts in accordance with the regulatory requirements. This required annual removal of young growth, as well as the cutting of brush. But recently, when the necessary activities to maintain the forest belts in their designed condition were practically not carried out, the protective plantations have significantly increased their area. Geometrically, they have become wider by 5, 10, or even 20 meters. Undesirable vegetation, in the form of shrubs and undergrowth encroaches on the field and takes away more area of fertile arable land. In the case of removal of this vegetation field size of 80-100 hectares can be increased by about 5-10%, that is to get up to 10 additional hectares of land suitable for agricultural use. For a farm with a large number of such fields, a significant increase in fertile soil is obtained.