Crop productivity and quality of brown mustard seeds under the influence of pre-sowing fertilization and foliar feeding in the conditions of the North-Eastern Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

The article presents the research results of the complex impact of the pre-sowing fertilizers and foliar fertilization on the yield and quality of gray mustard seeds in the conditions of the North-Eastern Steppe of Ukraine. The purpose of the research was to identify the options for pre-sowing application of complex fertilizers and foliar feeding, which ensure the formation of the highest seed yield and the largest collection of gray mustard oil the «Felicia» variety. The research was conducted in 2020, 2021 and 2023 on the basis of farm «Kyrychenko M» of Boriv district, Kharkiv region. A two-factor field experiment was set up using the split-plot method in four replications. The first-order plots were five variants of pre-sowing fertilization, the second order ones – five variants of foliar fertilizing with various combinations of watersoluble fertilizers. The area of the sown plot was 90 m2, the accounting plot was 70 m2 . The highest seed yield (2.27–2.33 t/ha) and oil collection (0.915–0.939 t/ha) were noted on the variants of the combination of pre-sowing application of N45P30K30 and N45P45K45 with two foliar top dressings during 21–23 and 50-53 microphases with a solution urea (10 kg/ha) and complex water-soluble fertilizer «Quantum technical» (2.0 l/ha). The oil content in the seeds did not undergo significant changes. There was only a tendency to increase the oil content in the seeds under the condition of foliar fertilizing and the dose reducing of pre-sowing fertilizers. In particular, the oil content in mustard seeds increased by 0.3–0.4 % in the variants of two foliar feedings compared to the control, and in the variants of pre-sowing application of N45P45K45 it deceased by 0.7 % compared to the control. Weather conditions led to significant changes in seed yield and oil yield per hectare, but the general tendency of influence of the studied factors remained. Based on this, increasing the dose of pre-sowing application from N45P30K30 to N45P45K45, as well as adding to the working solutions for foliar fertilization of the monoelement fertilizer «Quantum-BOR Active» is not advisable. Key words: brown mustard, nutrition system, crop productivity, oil content, foliar feedings, water-soluble fertilizers.