SOIL WATER REGIME AND SPRING SOFT WHEAT YIELD DEPENDING ON FORECROPS IN THE MODERATELY ARID FOREST-STEPPE OF THE ALTAI REGION
The Altai Region is a leader in terms of the areas under cereal and legume crops in the Russian Federation. The main areas under crops in the Altai Region are situated in the steppe zone. The history of agriculture in the steppe is associated with a struggle for moisture and moisture conservation. The research goal is to study soil water regime and the yield of spring soft wheat depending on forecrops in the moderately arid forest-steppe of the Altai Region. From 2005 to 2014, we made measurements of soil water content in the fields under spring soft wheat on six farms of the Altai Region. It was found that the water content in one meter soil layer during the growing season decreased on average from 234.5 mm to 153.3 mm, i.е. by one third. The average yield of spring soft wheat from 2005 to 2014 amounted to 1.79 t ha in the Priobskaya zone and 2.02 t ha in the East Kulunda zone; a leading forecrop was a fallow field with a yield of 1.97 and 2.38 t ha, respectively, in the Priobskaya and East Kulunda zones. The average moisture consumption from one meter soil layer per unit of spring soft wheat yield depending on the forecrops in the moderately arid forest-steppe of the Altai Region averaged 38.2 mm t in the Priobskaya zone, and 46.6 mm t in the East Kulunda zone. The maximum value was obtained in the Priobskaya zone after cereal and legume forecrops - 51.4 and 51.5 mm t, respectively, the minimum value in the East Kulunda zone after tilled forecrops (42.5 mm t).