2025 Ecosystem Transformation 8 (3), 10-34

The influence of moose (Alces alces L., 1758) rumen chyme on soil eutrophication in ecosystems of the southern taiga

Sсopin A.E.  , Lipatnikova S.V.

The influence of the piles of winter rumen digesta (chyme) from moose (Alces alces) on soils in natural sites is discussed. In early May 2020, the piles of chyme (5 kg each) were placed in three habitats (forest, deforestation area, overgrown field). The analysis of nutrients in soil was made after four months (in September). It has been established that in the process of leaching liquid components of chyme and decomposition of its plant residues, the pH in soil increases to the level of neutrality. The concentration of nitrate nitrogen in the soil under chyme piles is several times higher than the control values, averaging 14.8–18.6 mg/kg, depending on the habitat. The amount of ammonia nitrogen is three times higher in the experiment plots than in the natural sites of the forest. In the field and deforestation area, the differences between chyme and control plots are insignificant. In the upper soil layer, the quantity of phosphates under chyme influence is 6.0–25.0 times higher than in intact habitats. The difference in the concentration of mobile forms of potassium between the control and experimental plots with chyme is 2.1–8.0 times in the upper soil layers of different ecosystems. The ratio of nitrate and ammonium nitrogen to phosphates in the soil under chyme piles varies depending on the soil layer and habitat from 1:4.8 to 1:19.4; in the control sites, this ratio is from 1:0.8 to 1:2.9. The ratio of mineral nitrogen to mobile potassium in the soil under chyme is 1:10.7 – 1:21.5, and in the control – from 1:2.1 to 1:7.8. The possibilities to use the moose chyme as a potential source of fertilizers in hunting grounds of the taiga zone are being discussed.

A. E. Sсopin
Prof. B.M. Zhitkov Russian Institute of Game Management and Fur Farming
Preobrazhenskaya St. 79, Kirov, 610000 Russia

scopin@bk.ru

S. V. Lipatnikova
Prof. B.M. Zhitkov Russian Institute of Game Management and Fur Farming
Preobrazhenskaya St. 79, Kirov, 610000 Russia

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