AGROTECHNICAL INDICATORS FOR Trigonella foenum-gracum L. PRODUCTION IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS OF NORTHEASTERN EUROPE

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to study the impact of key agrotechnical factors: seed inoculation Rhizobium meliloti, sowing date, row spacing, weed control, and pathogen control, on productiveness of fenugreek seeds in the environmental conditions of the north-eastern Europe. The results indicate that the average seed yield of fenugreek from 54 test technology variants was 759 kg ha-1 , within a 9% variation range. The primary decision-supporting criteria for classification of a given technology of growing fenugreek for seeds as a highyielding one under the environmental conditions of north-eastern Europe are: the earliest possible sowing date or the one delayed by no more than 10 days relative to the former, as well as the inter-row spacing of 15 cm; the second most important criteria include technological variants with chemical weed control and full antifungal protection. Among the yield-protecting treatments tested, weed control of fenugreek plantations as an agrotechnical factor was responsible for the highest variation of seed yields. Irrespective of a weeding technique (mechanical, chemical), the sowing of seeds at the earliest possible date or delayed by 10 days did not cause a significant decline in seed yield, although the sowing date postponed by 20 days might reduce the seed yield by 3-10% when mechanical weed control techniques are applied, and by 3-13% on fields treated with a herbicide. Keywords: fenugreek, plant protection, Rhizobium, row spacing, sowing, yielding