Evaluation of the Potassium Status of Arable Soils in Ukraine on the Basis of Modern Soil Diagnostic Techniques and Development of Recommendations for the Rational and Efficient Application of Potassium Fertilizers.

R&D TARGET SPECIFICATION

Evaluation of the potassium status of Ukrainian soils on the basis of modern soil diagnostic techniques and development recommendations for the rational and efficient application of potassium fertilizers.

1. Title of the research. Determine the potassium status of Ukraine soils on the basis of modern soil diagnostic techniques and develop recommendations for the rational and efficient application of potassium fertilizers.
2. Ground for R&D. Agreement № _2/11 of “1” of March 2011.
3. R&D topicality. The problem of the potassium nutrition of crops is extremely important. The cause of this is the high degree of potassium removal by the crop alongside with low rates of potassium fertilizers application.
Knowledge of the actual state of soil fertility will permit to increase the yield of crops; to raise significantly (up 25-40%) the payback of potassium fertilizers through crops yield increase and its quality improvement.
4. The object of R&D. To provide an accurate assessment of potassium status of Ukraine soil, to determine the demand for potassium fertilizers in the country, to establish the efficiency of potassium fertilizers in the soils of the main soil-climatic zones of the country and to work out recommendations for their efficient application on the ground of the data obtained by up-to-date methods of soil diagnostics.
5. The substance of R&D. Field, vegetation and laboratory experiments will be laid and carried out. Soil and plants will be analyzed and also a statistical analysis of the data will be carried out. The data of the automatized informational database on Ukraine and CIS countries soil properties will be summarized and supplemented.
The data of soil survey, Ukraine Agrochemical Service experiments and geographic data network experiments will be analyzed and generalized.
Also the analyzing and generalizing are planned for the information received earlier on the long-term stationary field experiments, laid on the podzolic and typical Chernozems. (Chernozems Chernic, Chernozems Luvic, Haplic Chernozems, Luvic Chernozems – relevant soil names according to WRB and FAO soil taxation).
6. Expected results. The potassium status of Ukraine soil will receive unbiased assessment; prompt and long-term forecast will be developed for the potassium status of three soil climatic zones (Forest, Forest-steppe, Steppe) and Ukraine as a whole; methods will be developed and suggested for the objective evaluation of soil potassium regime of any specified soil; the efficiency will be established of potassium fertilizers on the soils of Ukrainian Polesye (Forest), Forest-steppe and Steppe; the need of the Ukrainian agriculture in potassium fertilizers will be determined and recommendations will be proposed on the efficient use of potassium fertilizers on the soils of Ukraine.


PLANNED SCHEDULE

Step	Substance of the research step	Term of completion	Cost, in dollars USA	Expected results
1	Development of program and research methods. Analyzing and summarizing of regional published data. Improvement of an automatized database. Laying and maintaining of the field, vegetation and laboratory experiments. Chemical analysis of soil and plants samples, processing and analysis of the data obtained. Compiling of report and publications.	2011	11000	Need of Ukrainian agriculture in potassium fertilizers. Prompt and long-term prognosis of the potassium status of soils of the three climatic zones and Ukraine as a whole. Publications in scientific and scientific-industrial journals. Research Report.
2	Maintaining of the field, vegetation and laboratory experiments. Collecting information on the soil potassium regime and supplementing of the database. Chemical analysis of soil and plants samples, processing and analysis of the data obtained. Compiling of report and publications.	2012	11000	Evaluation of potassium status of main soil types of Ukraine, obtained on the basis of the up-to-date diagnostic methods. Evaluation of the efficiency of potassium fertilizers on the soil of Polesye (Forest), Forest-Steppe and Steppe zones. Journal publications. Research Report.
3	Carrying out the field, vegetation and laboratory experiments. Collecting information on the soil potassium regime and completion of the database. Chemical analysis of soil and plants samples, processing and analysis of the data obtained. Compiling of report, publications and recommendations	2013	10000	Methods of analysis making possible the most unbiased assessment of potassium regime of any specific soil. Publications in journals. Recommendations for efficient use of potassium fertilizers on the soils of Ukraine. Final Report.