The importance and role of the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade on the development and application of soil amelioration measures in the Republic of Serbia

The development of agriculture in Serbia would not have been possible without the implementation of ameliorative measures. Measures to improve the soil water regime in our country have existed throughout modern era, but very significant ameliorative practices have been implemented in the last 100 years, coinciding with the establishment of the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Belgrade. In Serbia, after the First World War, extensive work was carried out in the field of drainage, which underwent a real expansion after the Second World War. In the period from 1950 to 1970, drainage systems were built on about 1.5 million hectares, and by 1990 the total drained area exceeded 2.01 million hectares. Alongside the construction of drainage systems, dams were built on the major rivers to protect coastal areas from flooding. A significant achievement is the construction of the Danube-Tisza-Danube water system (1947-1977), which involved complex and versatile water management in Vojvodina. The introduction of irrigation in agriculture progressed much more slowly than drainage. The total irrigated area in 1990 was about 120,000 hectares, and today, after the crisis-ridden 1990s, it amounts to about 100,000 hectares. Nowadays, it is necessary to design additional drainage systems where problems of this kind arise, whereas the potential areas for irrigation are considerably larger. Until the beginning of the 21st century, various ameliorative activities were the focus of technical and research activity: soil surveys, investigation of the soil physical and water characteristics, soil chemical amelioration , the application of horizontal pipe drainage, soil recultivation, soil conservation, introduction of large machines for pressurised irrigation and application of drip irrigation methods. More recently, modern technologies and contemporary global trends such as the use of GIS, remote sensing, soil water balance monitoring, crop cover monitoring, micrometeorological measurements, automation of irrigation systems and crop growth modelling have been introduced alongside the application of traditional methods. The last decade has been marked by researches focused on the effects of climate change on agricultural production. The importance of the Soil and Water Management department is reflected in the training of professionals who are able to keep pace with technological changes and apply them to the management of soil and water resources, from the planning and implementation of new hydromeliorative systems to the maintenance of old systems and the management of crop production.