GRAINS MOISTURE VARIATION IN FIELD PEAS IN RELATION TO FERTILIZATION

Abstract

The study evaluated the moisture content of field pea’s grains at the time of harvest, in relation to mineral fertilization. The field researches took place within ARDS Lovrin. The field pea, 'Boxer' variety, was cultivated in non-irrigated conditions, on a chernozem type soil. Mineral fertilization was done with nitrogen (0, 25, 75 kg ha-1 a.s.; a.s. – active substance), phosphorus (0, 80 kg ha-1 a.s.) and potassium (0, 40, 80, 120 kg ha-1 a.s.). The combination of the three fertilizers resulted in 16 fertilization options (V1 to V16). At the moment of physiological maturity, BBCH code 9, the plants on the experimental variants were harvested. On pea grains samples, on the experimental variants, the humidity (M, %) was determined with the Wile 200 – Granit device. The moisture values varied between 13.70% (V3) and 17.90% (V13). The grain moisture values showed a normal distribution (r = 0.975). Compared to the average value (MAvg = 16.36%), higher values were recorded for variants V1, V4, V7, V9, V11, V12, V13, V14. The cluster analysis facilitated the generation of a dendrogram in which the variants were grouped based on Euclidean distances (Coph. corr. = 0.739). A cluster C1 included the variants with low moisture content, within which a high level of similarity was recorded between V5 and V8 (SDI = 0.00). Within cluster C2, the variants with higher moisture content were grouped, and a high level of similarity was recorded between variants V4 and V11 (SDI = 0.00). The model in the form of equations and graphic models resulted from the regression analysis, which described the variation of grain moisture depending on the applied fertilizers. Divergent action was recorded between nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively potassium in relation to grain moisture values.