Soil Geoecophysics Laboratory named after Academician of NAAS V.V. Medvedev

• Geographical information technology as a means of identifying patterns of changes in soil properties of Ukraine in time and space; soil monitoring.
• Spatial assessment of the physical parameters of the soil as a criterion of the state of the ecosystem in natural and anthropogenically transformed conditions.
• Relationship between agrotechnological measures and tillage tools in agriculture and the physical characteristics of the soil.
• Methodology of agrophysical survey of land plots for substantiation of precision farming.
• Valuation and monetary assessment of soils according to soil parameters, climate and technological characteristics of the land plot.
• Determining the investment attractiveness of arable lands of Ukraine.
• Harmonization of the "Soil Properties of Ukraine" database with the structural features of global soil information systems.
• Improvement of criteria and parameters for assessment of physical degradation of arable soils.
• Methodological and practical approaches to the spatially differentiated system of soil quality regulation

The most important research results

• Improved method of valuation and monetary evaluation of arable soils of Ukraine.
• Database "Soil Properties of Ukraine".
• Concept of the organization and functioning of soil monitoring in Ukraine, taking into account the European experience.
• Soil-technological zoning of agricultural lands.
• Agronomically oriented land zoning based on soil properties.
• Method of determining especially valuable soils.
• Register of reference physical parameters of arable soils of Ukraine and recommendations for assessing the physical quality of arable soils.
• Method of comprehensive evaluation of the physical quality of the soil.
• Methodology of determining the heterogeneity of soil properties on a plot of land for the substantiation of precise tillage.
• Methodology for building electronic maps of soil properties using databases and GIS
• Method of agro-ecological assessment of lands of Ukraine for the purpose of rational placement of agricultural crops.

Main achievements in international activities

• Implementation of an international project ordered by FAO: “Reconciliation the national system of soil classifiers with WRB 2014” (2020-2022), as well as the continuation of the project for 2023. Within the framework of the projects, the following was created: a database of soil profiles for the National System monitoring of the neutral level of land degradation; digital soil maps on a scale of 1:200,000 for the Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
• Participation in the FAO training workshop on soil nutrient mapping and related soil properties organized by the FAO Global Soil Partnership (GSP) (April 8-12, 2023).
• Creation of a digital network map of black soils of Ukraine, as a component of the FAO GBSmap - Global Black Soil Distribution Map (2022);
• Creation of a database of soil profiles for the Ukrainian part of the Danube basin according to the e-SOTER methodology (EU project, 2019-2021).
• Creation of a digital network map of organic carbon stocks in the soils of Ukraine, as a component of the FAO GSOCMap (2017).
• Creation of the European Hydropedological Data Inventory (EU-HYDI) within the framework of cooperation with the Joint Research Center of the European Commission (2013).
• Implementation of the international project Sustainable waste water recycling technologies for irrigated land in NIS and Southern European States (WATER REUSE) within the European program FP6-INCO (2005-2010).
• Implementation of the international project Modeling Studies of Preferential Flow in Irrigated Soils within the framework of the European INTAS program (2001-2004).

Oksana BIGUN - is an expert in soil databases.