The largest area of taiga gley-differentiated soils on the Soil map of Russian Federation, scale 1:2.5 M, is located in the north of West Siberia. Small areas are dispersed over the northwestern European Russia, Eastern Siberia and the North-East. Interpretation of taiga gley-differentiated soils in terms of Russian soil classification system (2004) is rather ambiguous owing to high diversity of ecological conditions where these soils occur, аs well as variability of soil morphological, chemical, and physicochemical properties in diverse mapping units. Comparing properties of taiga gley-differentiated soils described in the Program of the map (1972) and in regional publications with the diagnostic criteria for soil types in some orders of the Russian classification system made it possible to find adequate names and taxonomic position for these soils. Thus, taiga gley-differentiated soils in the middle and northern taiga of Western Siberia proved to be allocated to several orders: weakly differentiated and gleyed soils with a brown profile were referred to the order of organo-accumulative soils as shallow-peat gleyic soils; their more hydromorphic variants – taiga gley-differentiated shallow-peat soils were  defined in the order of gleyzems, as peat gleyzems, soil with morphologically differentiated profile having a particular cryogenic structure were qualified for svetlozems and iron-illuvial gleyic svetlozems in the order of cryometamorpic soils, and for eluvial-metamorphic soils of the same order in case of cryogenic structure was absent. Taiga gley-differentiated soils in their northwestern area are confined to varved clays and correspond to (soddy-)eluvial-metamorphic gleyic soils.

One of the most important applications of soil knowledge is in agricultural processes and crop production. Crop and forage yields strongly depend on soil conditions. Therefore, accurate soil information is an important component of informational support for agricultural production. A soil map is used as the basis for obtaining the soil data of a land plot. But the information on the soil map in many cases does not reflect the spatial variation of all agronomically important properties of soils, which leads to oversimplified and inaccurate analysis of soil information when making management decisions. A new methodology of applied soil mapping for agricultural purposes, based on a detailed analysis of the state of crops in a crop rotation with the use of multi-year satellite data archives, is proposed. The maps of soil inhomogeneity of individual fields, obtained on the basis of the proposed approaches, differ significantly from the traditionally developed soil maps and more accurately reflect the spatial heterogeneity of soil properties, predetermining their actual fertility. 

The enzymes produced by the soil biota are a key link in the regulation of biochemical processes. The soil enzyme activity can be visualized with zymography, a method based on using fluorescent substrates and obtaining two-dimensional images (zymograms). A variant of a zymographic measuring system has been proposed. Characteristics of lighting, photographic equipment and shooting modes, reagents preparation and calibration are presented. Preparing and analyzing soil samples of different texture (sand and clay loam) and processing the study results have been described. The ways of introducing the substrate are considered in this study, namely pipetting, short-time dipping, and saturation. An analysis of the kinetics of incubation of samples was carried out. The possibilities and disadvantages of the method were also considered and options for solving possible methodological problems during the analysis were proposed. The zymography is a promising method that allows comparing data with the results of other methods. The use of neural network technologies makes it possible to obtain the volumetric distribution of soil enzymes with high reliability. The soil zymography requires qualitative preparatory work and extreme accuracy during the analysis. It is necessary to ensure maximum contact between the substrate and the soil, as this is one of the key factors determining the quality of the results. The most optimal way to introduce the substrate is to saturate the membranes with substrate solution for 60 minutes. At this stage of the development of the method, it is not possible to establish a universal sample incubation time, since this depends on characteristics of both the studied soils and the experiment conditions. Also, it is necessary to document the conditions in detail for discussion the study results.

In modern conditions of unprecedented challenges, an alternative to the technological degradation of fertilizer application systems can be the development of original forms of long-acting fertilizers. Despite significant progress in the adaptation of progressive systems of agrochemical impacts, the use of traditional forms of mineral fertilizers does not allow using the full potential of the introduced nutrients, since the processes of incomplete denitrification, immobilization and leaching (leaching) of the main macronutrients (NPK), along with the action of urease, lead to unproductive loss of nutrients in the soil. In addition to economic losses, there are negative environmental consequences – eutrophication of water bodies, emission of greenhouse gases. The studies were carried out in 2022 under production conditions in the Kursk district of the Stavropol Territory on the farm of “StavAgroCom” on southern carbonate chernozem. As a modifier of mineral fertilizers, one of the most common synthetic polymers, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), was used. The polymer consumption rate was 3, 5 and 7 kg per 1 ton of fertilizer. Yield growth was positively correlated with the dose of polymer in the fertilizer. The analysis of soil properties was carried out by the method of principal components. The resulting clustering in the coordinates of the first two components (in total they explain 65% of the data variation) shows significant differences in soil properties under different experimental options. To assess the efficiency of the use of nutrients depending on the dose of the polymer, a differential indicator was proposed – the additional efficiency of the use of nutrients (E). It was estimated from the increase in yield relative to the zero dose of the polymer per unit reduction in the concentration of this element in the soil according to the proposed formula. It is shown that the polymer use in fertilizer gives a statistically significant increase in the efficiency of phosphorus and potassium use by winter wheat. 

The paper purpose was to establish the effect of applying biochar obtained from various organic wastes of agriculture (cow manure, straw), woodworking (pine sawdust) and food industry (pine nut shell), which are typical of Western Siberia, on the morphometric characteristics of plants (using spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) as the example) and the soddy-podzolic soil properties. The assessment of biochar influence was performed by a series of vegetation experiments using climatic chambers. As a result, it was found that the introduction of all the noted biochar types into the soil layer leads to a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the morphometric characteristics of spring wheat. For example, when applying the straw biochar to the soil, it results in growing the plant height to the node by 19%, while the number of leaves increased by 8% compared to the control variant. The introduction of biochar from manure leads to the increased length of the spring wheat root by 35%. Moreover, straw and manure biochars contribute to the reduction of soil acidity (increase in pH values from 7.1 to 7.4 and 7.8, respectively). The results of the comprehensive analysis indicate that the agronomic advantages of application of biochars obtained from wheat straw and cattle manure are better compared to biochars from pine sawdust and pine nut shells, which is due to higher concentration of nutrients and substances with alkaline reaction (carbonates and oxides) in the former. The results obtained are useful from the point of view of assessing the environmental risks when applying biochar ameliorants in soils typical of the boreal bioclimatic zone. Subsequent experiments, including studies of the joint application of biochars and fertilizers to the soil, will make it possible to develop recommendations for applying the thermal conversion technology for recycling the regional organic waste into ameliorants that improve soil quality and increase its fertility.