Abstract
Excessive heavy metal (HM) content in the soil and environment, caused by human activities such as the input of organic and mineral fertilizers and pesticides, may lead to suppression of plant growth. The present study, which is a part of a 3-year scientific project, aims at determining HM (Cu, Zn) content in the soils of Akmolinskoj district of Northern Kazakhstan, in order to conclude on the soil suitability when growing legumes (pea and chick-pea) and applying zero- and traditional technology, and to monitor certain plant growing characteristics. The study showed that HM content had changed under both zero- and traditional technology from the phase of ‘pre-sowing’ to the phase of ‘pre-harvesting’ but the content remained far below the Maximum Permissible Limits (MPL). According to the National Kazakhstan classification of the classes of toxic substances, the soils under the two technologies belong to class 3, i.e. very low toxicity that does not impact plants (quality) and animals as HM do not migrate in soil. Interestingly, the НМ concentration in soils treated with P-fertilisers is lower than in the control (untreated) plots. Overall, the low HM content did not impact the pea and chickpea growth as the addition of 0.5 l/ha of Izagry Phosphorus and other combinations of Izagry P and Rizotorfin (N-fixing bacteria promoter) stimulated the growth of both legumes during almost all major plant phenophases, also reduced the main phenophases elapsing time as well as the length of the vegetation period which is important for farmers in utilising the short period of high temperatures.
Key words: traditional technology, zero-tillage technology, peas, сhick-peas, Cu, Zn