Derebon I. Agroecological basis for flax production under the conditions of radioactive contamination

The paper presents the radioecological assessment of the deflation of different soil types on which fiber flax is grown in the zone of radioactive contamination. It also calculates the annual soil losses from wind erosion in this part of Polissya zone. The author elucidates the results of the investigations into the influence of combined seeding of fiber flax and bunch grasses on specific 137Cs activity in broken fiber flax and in its products manufactured at flax processing factories. The thesis proves that keeping flax straw on artificial grass cover produced due to combined seeding of fiber flax and grasses of Poaceae family reduces the content of radiocesium in broken flax by 28-50 %. The ways for optimizing dew wetting which are presented in the paper allowed to reduce title proportion of soil c ontaminants brought to processing enterprises together with broken fiber flax. They made it possible to improve sanitary-and-hygienic working conditions of direct labour at Yemilchyno flax processing factory. The paper also investigates the dynamics of the quantitative and qualitative content of microflora under different soil radiocontamination levels. The author proves that combined seeding of fiber flax and grasses ensured statistically reliable flax fiber production gains and improved its quality. The principal results of the paper have been introduced into production.