Productivity and grain quality of winter wheat varieties depending on the fractional nitrogen top dressings and seeding rates

Abstract

The study was carried out in the Kostroma region on soddy-podzolic soils with an average degree of cultivation in 2019–2022, with three repetitions of a field trial. The purpose of the study was to estimate the effect of different doses of nitrogen top dressings applied at critical phases of plant development on productivity and grain quality of winter wheat at seeding rates of 2, 4, and 6 million germinating kernels per hectare. There have been studied 5 winter wheat varieties of domestic breeding, such as ‘Moskovskaya 39’ (a standard variety), ‘Moskovskaya 40’, ‘Moskovskaya 56’, ‘Nemchinovskaya 57’ and ‘Nemchinovskaya 85’. The used agrotechnology corresponds to the zonal one in the Kostroma region. As a result of the study there has been identified a productivity variation from 2.9 to 3.7 t/ha depending on a variety. The largest productivity was formed by the variety ‘Moskovskaya 56’ with the use of a triple dose of nitrogen at a seeding rate of 6 million germinating kernels per hectare, which significantly exceeded the control variant on 0.5 t/ha. There has been estimated an influence of doses of nitrogen top dressings on technological parameters and flour properties of winter wheat grain. There has been found that the high content of crude protein (17.44–19.41 %), gluten (28.16–35.80 %) and hardiness (65.9–74.6 %) was demonstrated by the variety ‘Moskovskaya 40’. There has been also established a large hardiness of the variety ‘Nemchinovskaya 57’ (62.5–75.0 %). The largest 1000-grain weight (42.0–45.2 g) has been found in the variety ‘Moskovskaya 56’. Through three years of the study, there has been proved a stable response of the studied varieties to the improvement of productivity and n qualitative indicators as a result of the use of doses of nitrogen top dressings for winter wheat crops.