• Artem Serhiyovych Kuzmenko – head of the laboratory, candidate of agricultural sciences, senior researcher;
• Grigoriy Bogdanovych Moroz – leading specialist, candidate of agricultural sciences, associate professor;
• Evgenia Illivna Kuzmenko – leading specialist, candidate of agricultural sciences.

Any fruit plant grows in one place for tens of years. Every year, trees/bushes extract a large amount of various elements of mineral nutrition, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, from the soil. Therefore, obtaining high and stable yields of any fruit plants with good quality of berries/nuts is possible only with systematic replenishment of nutrient reserves in the soil. This is achieved by applying various fertilizers to the soil – organic, mineral and bacterial, as well as by carrying out a complex of measures for chemical soil reclamation. Long-term research by employees of the agrochemistry laboratory revealed the main soil parameters that affect the growth and development of both perennial fruit plants and field annual crops.

The first group consists of parameters that determine the basic suitability (unsuitability) of soils for growing most fruit plants. This group includes: the strength of the humus part of the profile, salinity, salinity, density, granulometric composition, the amount of absorbed bases, etc.

With the help of parameters of the second group, the issue of choosing rootstocks and grafts of most fruit plants, as well as the technological direction of using such plants, is solved. These parameters include: humus reserves, fertility indicators, the amount of carbonates, etc.

During the entire history of its existence, the employees of the agrochemical laboratory have collected and formed detailed regulatory and informational information about the physicochemical properties of the soils of most of the agricultural lands of the Northern Black Sea region, and it is this information, together with the results of specific agrochemical studies, that are used in writing the final recommendations regarding one or another territory, which is planned to be used in the future for planting fruit plantations.

• study of the features of mineral nutrition of most fruit and annual agricultural crops in different soil and climatic zones;
• theoretical substantiation of the principles of formation of allelopathically active zones in the soil, implementation of a comprehensive assessment of their impact on the phytocenosis;
• study of the features of the influence of heavy metals on the agrobiological and physiological indicators of the grape plant.

Highly qualified specialists of the laboratory of agrochemistry are prepared using modern equipment and the latest methods of analysis:

• conduct a complex soil and agrochemical survey of areas for planning the planting of young gardens, with further calculation of the rates of applied fertilizers to improve soil fertility;
• to determine the main indicators of soil fertility (NPK, humus, acidity, etc.) followed by providing recommendations on increasing the existing fertility for other (except for young gardens) agricultural crops with the calculation of applied fertilizer rates;
• to assess the degree of soil contamination by heavy metals under industrial grape plantations.