Agricultural practices in spring wheat crops and their impact on plant growth and development

Abstract

Promotion of the country’s food security under modern conditions is one of the most important tasks facing agricultural producers. Spring wheat is the main grain crop which largely influences the production of food products necessary for the population of our country. Successful spring wheat growing in all grain-producing regions means compliance with all the constituent elements of agricultural technology and the introduction of the most productive and economically profitable techniques into this process. The influence of tillage depth, fertilizers and herbicides on the state of spring wheat agrocenosis is very important for achieving high yields and maintaining soil fertility. The research was carried out in the Altai Region’s Ob River area from 2020 through 2022. Two field trials were carried out: Trial 1 – determination of the effect of agricultural technology elements on the formation of plant density; Trial 2 - determination of the aftereffect of agricultural technology elements on the formation of plant density. The experimental scheme included the study of the following variants: basic tillage technique - deep subsurface tillage (25...27 cm); shallow subsurface tillage (14...16 cm); no tillage; fertilizer application - no fertilizer (0); pre-sowing application (N₄₀Р₂₅); plant protection products - none (0); herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. The preceding crop was a fallow. In Trial 1, high rates of field germination and plant survival for harvesting were obtained in the variants with shallow and deep plowing. The percentage of plants survived for harvesting on average over the years of the study ranged from 89.3% in variant 3 to 99.1% in variant 12. In Trial 2, high field germination was obtained in the variants with deep tillage (9-12) - 99.5-99.8%. The number of plants survived for harvesting in the variants with tillage in Trial 2 significantly exceeded the control value of 340 plants per m². A high rate of plants survived for harvesting was found in variants 9 (99.8%) and 10 (99.8%). As a result, in these options, the maximum plant survival rate in this trial was obtained - 99.3 and 99.6%.