INFLUENCE OF HUMIC ACIDS AND SILICON ON SOIL PROPERTIES

Abstract

Humic acids (HA) and silicon (Si) as soil improvement agents can become a solution to ensure long-term sustainability and economic efficiency of agriculture. The experiments were conducted in 2021–2022 at the Vytautas Magnus University Academy of Agriculture (VMU ŽŪA) Testing Station in Kaunas district (54° 52' 49.89", 23° 50' 19.64" (WGS)) and on the farm of farmer Arūnas Mickūnas in Jurbarkas district, Raudonės sen., Kabučiai km. (55° 6' 15.67", 23° 11' 28.3" (WGS)). Winter wheat crops locally fertilized with different fertilizers were selected for field experiments in order to assess the effect of humic acids and silicon on soil properties. Variants of local fertilization of winter wheat: 1) fertilizers without humic acids and silicon (Without HA and Si); 2) fertilizers with humic acids and silicon (With HA and Si). Soil samples were taken before the experimental installation and after the winter wheat harvest. Analyses were performed on samples of the 0–15 cm soil layer, taking combined samples from 15–20 places in each field. After assessing the agrochemical properties of the soil (pH, humus content, nitrogen content, phosphorus content, potassium content), it can be stated that the use of fertilizers with HA and Si did not significantly contribute to the accumulation of plant nutrients in the soil and did not have a significant effect on their preservation in a form available to plants.