THE EFFECT OF DRIP IRRIGATION ON SOIL PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTY CHANGE
Soil profiles were made in intensive apple orchard in the agricultural enterprises in Lipetsk and Tambov regions in 2015. Drip irrigation in year rates of 500-550 m<sup>3</sup> was carried out since 2010. During the research we determined the soil density, the solid phase density, aggregate composition, particle size distribution, the content of hydrolyzable nitrogen and humus by conventional methods. As a result of drip irrigation can increase dust-like fraction in dark gray forest soil, whereas in chernozems this index did not change significantly. In the black earth soil was noted the process of increasing the proportion of mud fraction due to mineral part chernozem destruction. In both soil types was increased sand content. It was found that drip irrigation improves some of the soil water-physical properties, such as a soil structure coefficient and the content of agronomical valuable aggregates in a layer of 20-40 cm. There was also noted that with increasing soil depth was reduced humus and hydrolyzable nitrogen content. In aggregate analysis, it was found that dark-gray forest soil the amount of water-stable aggregates increased, while meadow chernozem leached soil decreased. Data of the aggregate analysis revealed that in the dark-gray forest soil the amount of water-stable aggregates increased as a result of drip irrigation, while in meadow chernozem leached soil decreased. It recommends by drip irrigation application permanent monitoring of the soil humus content