Increasing the resistance of the drug calendula to abiotic environmental factors

Abstract

Currently, medicinal plant growing is one of the promising areas of activity of agricultural enterprises in the Russian Federation. This area has a high economic potential. The deterioration of the general ecological situation, the instability of weather conditions have a negative impact on the growth and development of medicinal crops, leading to a decrease in plant resistance to stress factors and the inability to fully realize their potential with cultivated varieties. Plant growth regulators are one of the most promising groups of pesticides, the advantages of which are that they are harmless, environmentally friendly and highly effective at low consumption rates of biologically active substances of polyfunctional action. Exogenous use of growth regulators makes it possible to activate physiological and biochemical processes, regulate individual stages of morphogenesis, in order to mobilize the potential of the plant organism, aimed at overcoming unfavorable environmental conditions by plants, increasing their resistance to harmful organisms and ensuring optimal productivity. On the territory of the collection nursery of the Middle Volga branch of the FSBI VILAR in 2018-2020, an experiment was carried out in order to study the effect of growth regulators and micronutrient fertilizers Zircon, Epin-extra, Ferovit and Siliplant, on the resistance of plants to unfavorable growing conditions, increasing the yield of inflorescences and seeds of calendula officinalis. Ferovit turned out to be the best result of application in the raw material areas for three years of research in the prevailing weather conditions. The average yield of raw materials of air-dried inflorescences was 2.10 t / ha, which is 0.45 t / ha more than the control variant. On seed plots, the best indicators were obtained with the use of Siliplant micronutrient fertilizer 1.25 t / ha, which is 0.2 t / ha more than the option without the use of drugs.