Annotation

The objective of the research is to substantiate and develop an effective methodology for soil moisture determining and water scheduling at vine saplings in specific soil and climatic conditions by the instrumental method. In the course of the research the tensiometric method of water scheduling during vine saplings growth at ordinary chernozem in the Rostov region for semiarid, semi-dry, and dry years was considered. At the experimental plot, water applications were assigned at the threshold of 80 % of field capacity (FC). One set of tensiometers was installed on the area of 1 ha of saplings. It was established that for silty clay loam soil moisture tension 0.05-0.10 atm corresponded to the soil moisture at field capacity (FC, 28 %), 0.10-0.20 atm – 90 % FC (25.2 %), 0.20-0.35 atm – 80 % FC (22.4 %), 0.40-0.60 atm – 70 % FC (19.6 %). On the basis of regression analysis, there was determined the zone of steady representativeness reflecting soil moisture tension in root-inhabited layer of vine saplings at the depth of 0.2-0.3 m from soil surface. This zone is most suitable for tensiometer installation in manufacturing environment. Economic assessment of tensiometer using for soil moisture determination in comparison with gravimetric method has shown that savings were obtained by costs decreasing of equipment and labor for metering, and by efficiency increasing. The savings were 1.95 thousand rubles per hectare including savings due to equipment – 1.65 thousand rubles per hectare, and labor – 0.3 thousand rubles per hectare.