Course description

“Applied soil science” is a normative discipline for the students of speciality 103 “Earth Sciences”, educational program “Applied soil science and evaluation of soils” master’s degree, taught in the 1 semester in the volume of 3 credits (according to the European Credit-ransfer System ECTS).

The syllabus of the course envisages the acquaintance of students with the quality evaluation of land plots and effective maintenance of soils with the view of agricultural production, in accordance with legal aspects, recreation and protection of soils properties.

Within the course, the students are provided with the knowledge necessary to manage land plots. Problems of formation, diagnostics of the state of soils, legal providing of the use, maintenance and protection of soils, technology of growing of agricultural cultures on different types of soils, ways of overcoming negative properties of soils are highlighted. On completion of the course a student must possess the knowledge of:

• methods of mastering dried peat soils, swamped soils;
• terms of growing certain types of cultures depending on properties and types of soils;
• morphogenic, physical properties of soils;
• means of optimization of acid-alcalineequilibrium, water, nourishing, biological and other modes of soils, improvement of buffer properties;
• ways of increasing soils fertility;
• organic fertilizers and ways of their use;
• criteria of evaluation of provision of soils with nutrients;
• distribution and accumulation of micro- and macro-elements in soils and plants, their impact on man’s health;
• causes and consequences of soils pollution with heavy metals, radionuclidees;
• ways of fighting wind and water erosion;
• terms of introducing alternative technologies of soil treatment;
• effective soil-preserving and soil-regeneration measures;
• measures concerning crop rotation and soil fertilization;
• legal aspects of provision, use, regeneration, preservation and protection of soils.