Survival of the Soybean Plants Depending on the Integrated Influence of Seeding Method and Seeding Rate in the Eastern Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

The aim of the research was to establish the effect of the seeding rate and method of sowing on the future survival and density of soy plants before harvesting. The experiments were carried out during 2015–2018 in accordance with the generally accepted methodology. The experience was laid down according to the following scheme: factor A two soybean varieties: Baika and Annushka; factor B three variants of row spacing: 15, 45 and 70 cm; factor C five standards for sowing seeds: 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 million pcs./ha. More favorable weather conditions for the growth and development of plants were formed in 2016, which ensured the formation of the highest density of soybean plants at the time of harvesting. The average survival rate of soybean plants this year was 84.8 %. The greatest density of plants before harvesting was on wide-row crops with 45 cm row-spacing. On average for years, on variants with 15, 45 and 70 cm row-spacing it was 68.6 pcs./m2, 70.3 and 64.7 pcs./m2, respectively. The large density of plants before harvesting on crops with 45 cm row-spacing was due to the higher field germination of seeds, and not to higher plant survival rates. Since, due to a more uniform distribution of plants over the feeding area, which ensured the row method of sowing, their survival was greatest on row crops. So, in the variants with row-spacing of 15, 45 and 70 cm, the average plant survival by years, varieties and seeding rates was 82.3%, 80.4 and 78.2%, respectively. The highest survival rates of soybean plants of the varieties Baika and Annushka were noted on row crops with the lowest seeding rate 0.8 million pcs./ha. The influence of the seeding rate on plant survival with its gradual increase by the same indicator 0.1 million pcs./ha increased. In particular, with its increase from 0.8 to 0.9 million pcs./ha, the average survival rate of soybean plants by varieties and methods of sowing decreased by 0.7%, while from 1.1 to 1.2 million pcs./ha by 1.3%. The influence of the sowing rate was large on the options with 70 cm row spacing. Thus, on an average over the years, the survival rate of soybean plants variety Annushka with an increase in the sowing rate from 0.8 to 1.2 million pcs./ha in crops with 15, 45 and row-spacing 70 cm decreased by 2.5, 3.2 and 4.5%, respectively. This trend was noted in all years of the experiments.