Natural-climate zonal distribution of the beekeeping industry in the west of Kazakhstan

Analysis of the features of Western Kazakhstan for the presence and level of thermal regime, phytocenotic diversity as a source of food for bees and other important indicators are necessary to establish the level of intensity and search for ways to increase the efficiency of the beekeeping industry, which will become a significant replenishment of the fodder base for farm animals. In addition, the use of such honey plants as sweet clover, alfalfa, clover, sainfoin significantly improves soil fertility in crop rotation structures, since the use of leguminous herbs significantly increases soil nitrogen. In cases where sweet clover is sown on lands with a high salt content, their salinity is significantly reduced, which today makes it possible to stop soil degradation, and this is a solution to global problems. The climate of the western regions of Kazakhstan is characterized by a sharp continentality, which increases from northwest to southeast. The signs of continentality are distinguished by sharp temperature contrasts of day and night, winter and summer, and a rapid transition from winter to summer. Instability and scarcity of atmospheric precipitation, intensity of evaporation processes and an abundance of direct sunlight throughout the growing season are typical throughout the region. Intensive crop production is mainly concentrated in the steppe and dry-steppe zones located in the northern part of the West Kazakhstan and Aktobe regions. The territory of intensive agriculture in the west of Kazakhstan for many years has formed a range of agricultural crops, priority for crop production, the main of which are winter cereals, spring breads, legumes. The entire grain wedge accounts for 50% of all sown area. On average, 12% of the area is sown annually with oilseeds and 36% is allocated for sowing forage crops, including typical nectar-bearing crops: sunflower, safflower, alfalfa, sainfoin, sweet clover. Mustard, buckwheat, camelina are sown in small amounts. The natural and climatic conditions of Western Kazakhstan in terms of indicators and characteristics that affect the activity of bee pollination are complex, unstable, but quite acceptable for targeted involvement in agricultural production. Seed production of field crops with the involvement of cultivated species of pollinating insects in the process of pollination can increase the yield of seed production by 45-50%.

Preservation of Soil Fertility Using Sidereal Clover

This study examined the use of intermediate groundcover sideral crops, such as perennial leguminous herbs, to conserve soil fertility though enriching the soil with fresh organic matter, an effective and low-cost method. Studies show that the use of direct sowing technology allows the preservation of all plant residues on the soil surface, which ensures the best accumulation of snow in the winter. Through the preservation of numerous biodrenes from the root system of sweet clover and other cultivated crops, as well as soil channels from earthworms, this direct sowing technology increases the moisture content of the soil and reduces moisture loss. The effectiveness of various soybean, corn and sunflower cultivation technologies with a minimal tillage period was studied. When sweet clover was used for green manure in April, the maximum yield was obtained, and the maximum yield for corn (57.3-82.3 c/ha) was obtained using the no-till technology. As a consequence, the ground cover crop had a noticeable effect on the yield of the second crop rotation - spring wheat, which had a higher yield. The use of direct sowing technology with sweet clover as green manure provided the highest yield of spring wheat - from 37.2 to 39.8 c / ha. The grain quality of spring wheat, placed as the second crop after melilot on green manure, was higher, both under no-till technology and under mini-till technology. Keywords: biologization, soil fertility, green manure, clover, direct sowing, productivity

Long-Term Growth of Alfalfa Increased Soil Organic Matter Accumulation and Nutrient Mineralization in a Semi-Arid Environment

Land use patterns and vegetation coverage in semi-arid areas of the Loess Plateau have undergone great changes due to the implementation of the “Grain for Green” project. The introduction of legume pasture species, such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis L.), is one of the most efficient methods of vegetation restoration and reconstruction in this region. However, there is a need for an effective assessment of the root system distribution and its interaction with soil after long-term introduction. An experiment involving the introduction of alfalfa and sweet clover on abandoned farmlands was initiated in 2003 to assess the long-term effects. After 17 years, root and soil samples at depths of 0–20 and 20–60 cm were collected to characterize the root biomass, root carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN), soil organic carbon (SOC), and soil N and P. The results showed that the root biomass density of alfalfa in the 0–20 and 20–60 cm layers (63.72 and 12.27 kg m–3, respectively) were significantly higher than for sweet clover (37.43 and 8.97 kg m–3, respectively) and under natural abandonment (38.92 and 9.73 kg m–3, respectively). The SOC, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), available phosphorus (AP), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3–-N), MBC and MBN in the 0–20 and 20–60 cm layers were higher after alfalfa introduction compared with sweet clover introduction and natural abandonment, although the ammonia-nitrogen (NH4+-N) concentration in the 0–20 cm layer was lower. There were significantly positive correlations between root biomass density and both soil nutrients and microbial biomass, while there was a negative correlation between the soil NH4+-N and root biomass density. These results indicate that alfalfa root growth improved soil organic matter accumulation and nutrient mineralization. The accumulation and mineralization of soil nutrients also guaranteed root and microorganism growth. Therefore, it was concluded that alfalfa introduction will promote soil nutrients immobilization and mineralization and may enable sustainable land use in the semi-arid region of the Loess Plateau, China.

Biological Evidences of Dicoumarol: A Review

Dicoumarol, a natural anticoagulant drug chemically designated as is metabolized from coumarin in the sweet clover (Melilotus alba and Melilotus officinalis) by molds, such as Penicillium nigricans and Penicillium jensi. Coumarin (1,2-benzopyrone), the parent molecule of dicoumarol, is the simplest compound of a large class of naturally occurring phenolic substances made of fused benzene and pyrone rings . In addition, the coumarin anticoagulants, dicoumarol (Dicumarol) and its synthetic derivative warfarin sodium (Coumadin), have been shown to decrease metastases in experimental animals. Warfarin sodium, largely replacing dicoumarol therapeutically as an anticoagulant, has been used for the treatment of a variety of cancers and shown to improve tumor response rates and survival in patients with several types of cancer. However, despite numerous studies, little information has been acquired on the cellular mechanism of action of coumarin compounds in the treatment of malignancies. Possibly for this reason, the coumarin compounds have not received much attention for the treatment of cancer.

Effect of plant growth promotion fungi on agricultural crops

Pot experiments with seven agricultural crops were carried out in laboratory conditions to study the effect of fungal strains on their growth and development: soybean (Glycine max), barley (Hordeum vulgare), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), rapeseed (Brassica napus), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis), sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia). Five fungal strains with biotechnologically valuable properties were used: P. bilaiae Pb14, P. bilaiae C11, T. pinophilus T14, Aspergillus sp. D1 and B. bassiana T7. Inoculation with fungal strains increased theshoot length of seedlings by 14-33%, the root length by 13-29%, the shoot dry weight by 12-31%, the root dry weight by 15-30% compared to the controls.The application of fungal strains had a stimulating effect on the photosynthetic activity of plants by increasing the content of chlorophyll in the leaves of seedlings. There was an increase in the content of chlorophyll a by 8-16%, chlorophyll b - by 9-17%.

PRODUCTIVITY OF GREEN MANURE CROPS DEPENDING ON HYDROTHERMAL CONDITIONS

Green manuring can increase biological activity of the soil, enrich it with organic matter, nutrients and improve its agrophysical and agrochemical properties. The aim of the research was to establish the influence of green manure crops species composition on the productivity of agrophytocenoses and the input of soil organic matter under various hydrothermal conditions. The studies were conducted in 2016–2019 on the experimental fields of the Research Institute of Agriculture of Crimea. Soil – chernozems southern low-humus. Average daily air temperature was: in 2016 – 11.8 °С; in 2017 – 12.7 °С; in 2018 – 12.5 °С; in 2019 – 12.6 °С (average long-term values – 10.8 °С). The amount of precipitation over the years was at the level of 162, 67, 129, 108 % of the norm. The experiments were laid according to B. A. Dospekhov “Methods of field research”. Position of the variants is systematic, triple replication. Fields square – 720 m2. The research subject is green manure crops agrocenoses. The object of the research is the process of forming the productivity of green manure crops. On average, over the years of research, the highest yield of green mass was formed by sweet clover and sainfoin (29.1 and 27.1 t/ha, respectively), winter triticale (24.5 t/ha) and winter rye (25.8 t/ha). T. pratense and P. tanacetifolia were low-yielding. The largest amount of accumulated soil organic matter was detected when rye, triticale, sainfoin and sweet clover were used as green manure; it was 5.88, 5.72, 5.56 and 5.52 t/ha, respectively. We established an average correlation (at 5 % significance level) between the amount of precipitation for the period “sowing – ripeness” in 2016–2017 and the yield of green mass of green manure crops (r = 0.52), as well as dry matter yield (r = 0.59). A negative correlation of average strength was also established between the average daily temperature of the period “sowing – ripeness” in 2017–2018 and yield of green mass (r = –0.66), as well as organic matter yield (r = –0.64).