The productivity of spring barley varieties and plant nutrition optimization in the Southern Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

Purpose. To determine the productivity of spring barley according to varietal characteristics and plant nutrition optimization in the conditions of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine.Methods. The research was carried out during the years 2013–2017 on the experimental field of the Mykolaiv National Agrarian University with the spring barley varieties ‘Adapt’, ‘Stalker’ and ‘Enei’.Results. Productivity elements of spring barley (the number of grains in the ear and their mass) were analyzed according to the variety and type of plant nutrition. During the years of research, lightly larger amount of grains have been formed by the nutrition factor in the ear of ‘Enei’ barley variety – 22.0 +_ pcs, which exceeded other varieties by 0.3–1.0 +_pcs, or 1.4–4.8%. Under conditions of root background (N30P30) fertilization the mass of one ear grains increased by 9.4% 8.0% and 7.9%, in comparison with non-fertilized reference groups of ‘Adapt’, ‘Stalker’ and ‘Enei’ barley varieties correspondently. And under conditions of non-root fertilization the mass increased too by 11.9–17.7%; 10.6–15.5% and 10.2–14.7% correspondently for these barley varieties. The maximum productivity of barley varieties was formed during the growing with background N30P30 fertilization and non-root plant nutrition in the period of vegetation with Orhanik D2 and Escort-Bio preparations. On average, over the years of research and by variety factor, the grain yield was 3.37–3.41 t/ha, which exceeded the yield of reference plant group grown on unfertilized field by 0.71–0.75 t/ha (26.7–28.2%), and by 0.4 t/ha (15.4%) in comparison with background root mineral fertilization only. The highest grain yield by feed factor was formed by ‘Enei’ variety – 3.36 t/ha, which exceeded the ‘Stalker’ and ‘Adapt’ varieties by 0.21 t/ha (6.3%) and 0.32 t/ha (9.5%) correspondently.Conclusions. On ave­rage, over the years of research, the highest productivity has been obtained with the ‘Enei’ variety. At the same time, the maximum yields of all barley varieties were obtained on the background of moderate dose of mineral fertilizers and non-root plant nutrition with Escort-bio preparation in the vegetation period.