MILLET PRODUCTIVITY AS A MONOCULTURE AND IN CROP ROTATIONS ON TWO AGRICULTURAL BACKGROUNDS DURING A LONG-TERM STUDY IN A REGION WITH UNSTABLE MOISTURE CONDITIONS

Abstract

The article dwells upon the aftereffect influence of forecrops and crop rotations on millet productivity on two agricultural backgrounds, also, its long-term cultivation as monoculture in a region with unstable moisture conditions. The aim of the study was the influence of two agrocenoses on millet yield in the aftereffect of various forecrops, in the conditions of the steppe zone of the Southern Urals. Long-term (31 years) experiments were carried out in dry conditions of Orenburg region. As a result of the experiment, the influence of forecrop impact and aftereffect, nutritional background and meteorological factors of the growing season on formation of millet yields in crop rotations and as monocrop was revealed. The influence of precipitation of two summer months (June and July) on the millet yield level was discovered. Abundant precipitation in June and July contributes to growth of millet yields on two nutritional backgrounds. No effect from mineral fertilizer application was noted. Millet yield rise on an unfertilized background in the second, fourth and fifth rotation of crop rotations amounted to 0.01 tons, in the third - 0.09 tons per 1 ha. Millet cultivation in crop rotation with green manure fallow leads to yield increase in wet years on average up to 3.20 tons on a fertilized background, 3.12 tons per 1 ha on an unfertilized background. Millet productivity as monoculture decreased in comparison with cultivation in crop rotations in all years of a long-term experiment.