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The impact of the active hostilities associated with Russia's large-scale armed invasion of the territory of Ukraine on soil degradation as a result of military actions has resulted in soil damage due to heavy military armored vehicles. Debris from destroyed military equipment, ammunition, and fuel remnants lead to multi-factor damage to the soil system, causing local and global pollution and losses of soil resources. In all the studied cases, mechanical, chemical, and physical soil degradation were observed. This was manifested in changes in granulometric fractions at explosion sites, burning areas, and locations with heavy-metal contamination. Equipment incineration has resulted in an increase in the sand fraction (2.0–0.05 mm) by 1.2–1.8 times and a decrease in the clay fraction (<0.002 mm) by 1.1–1.2 times. The soil contamination levels with regard to heavy metals significantly surpass health standards, with the highest pollution levels observed for Pb, Zn, and Cd. Across all affected areas, changes occurred in the microbiome structure (a 20.5-fold increase in the proportion of mycelial organisms), microbiological process activity was suppressed (a 1.2-fold decrease), microbial biomass (a 2.1-fold decrease) was reduced, and high soil toxicity (99.8%) was observed. Explosions and the pyrolysis of armored vehicles have a significant impact on soil mesobiota and plants. The results indicate the existence of complex interactions between various factors in the soil environment post-explosion, significantly affecting soil health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This paper presents comparative studies on the content and structure of organic matter (OM) and the activity of microbiological cellulose destruction in three types of Ukrainian soils intensively used in agricultural production. Methods: The highest content of humus in the arable layer (4.9%), OM (410 t ha-1), and total carbon (30.9 mg C g-1 soil) was determined in chernic phaeozems, which is 2.2-2.5 times higher than in albic retisols. The soil of natural ecosystems is characterised by a high content of microbial carbon (Cmic) in the carbon fraction of organic soil compounds. Results and discussion: In arable soils, the content and reserves of humus and soil organic matter (SOM) have decreased by an average of 1.5-2 times. The most considerable loss of humus reserves in the soil profile was identified in albic retisols (1.96-1.44 times) and the smallest in chernic phaeozems (1.27-1.81 times). During the long-term systematic application of mineral fertilisers, the Corg content decreased by 8-21% in chernic phaeozems, 12-33% in greyzemic phaeozems, and 6-38% in albic retisols. A significant difference of 2.1-8.0 times was determined regarding the number of aerobic cellulolytic microorganisms and 1.3-3.3 times in the potential cellulolytic activity of the studied soils. The high number of cellulose-destroying microorganisms is characteristic of chernic phaeozems with a high content of OM in the soil; the advantage over other types of studied soils was 1.4 times and 7.8 times for greyzemic phaeozems and albic retisols, respectively. Among the studied soil types, high values of CO2 emissions were identified in chernic phaeozems. Intensive agricultural practices in Ukrainian soils have significantly altered the content and composition of organic matter, leading to reduced humus and soil organic matter reserves. The study also underscores the importance of considering the abundance of cellulose-destroying microorganisms and their potential activity in assessing soil health and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main directions of agricultural production in Ukraine is the stabilisation and increase in the production of high-quality food grains, which will ensure the country's food security and increase the export potential. Increasing the yield of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), the main grain crop of the country, is important in this regard. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of different intensity cultivation technologies on the productivity of winter wheat. The experiment was carried out in 2016-2020 and based on a stationary multifactorial experiment of the Department of Technology of Grain and Ear Crops of the National Scientific Centre Institute of Agriculture of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. Models of cultivation technologies were studied, which differed in the rates of applied mineral fertilisers, the insertion of pea straw residues, and the application of the plant protection system (PPS). The results showed a positive effect of the cultivation technologies with increasing intensity on the formation of winter wheat productivity. The amount of vegetative mass, the level of accumulation of the dry matter of plants, the density of productive stems, the length of the ear, the number of spikelets per ear, and the grain size of the ear increased. The factor 'fertilisation system' had the greatest influence (79.3%) on the formation of winter wheat grain yield. The highest grain yield was obtained by the highly intensive 1 (HI1) cultivation technology, which provided for the application of P80K100N240 fertilisers with the background of the straw residues of preceding crop and integrated PPS, which was 8.93 t ha-1 (excess to control was 4.71) with the best indicators of grains quality, protein content of 13.3-13.8%, and gluten content of 23.3-24.6%. On application of the studied technologies, winter wheat did not significantly accumulate copper, zinc, manganese, and iron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]