Efficiency of using soil moisture at differentiated sowing of spring wheat

Abstract

The findings of a two-year field experiment to study the effect of sowing rates and mineral fertilizer application rates on soil moisture consumption and spring wheat yields in field productivity zones are discussed. The experiment was conducted on the farm of the OOO “Charyshskoye” of the Ust-Kalmanskiy District of the Altai Region in 2022 and 2023 as a full-factorial plan 3³. Altogether, 27 combinations of the analyzed factors were studied. When establishing the experiment, electronic field maps based on the ASF soil fertility index obtained by the “Agronout” company were used. The identified relationship equations in 2022 described the specific moisture consumption by soil fertility zones per unit of wheat yield with high adequacy (R² = 0.78-0.86), and in 2023 - only in the low fertility zone (R² = 0.81). In our opinion, this is due to significantly lower precipitation from May through July 2023, when moisture became a limiting factor in yield growth. The studied factors were found to be highly significant for the specific moisture consumption from a meter-thick soil layer taking into account the wheat yield. Quantitative evaluation shows that the most significant factor was the soil fertility zone of the field. The second place is taken by mineral fertilizer application rate, and the third place is taken by the sowing rate. It was found that the high fertility zone of the field used soil moisture most effectively. The high efficiency of the correct use of differentiated sowing and application of mineral fertilizers was proved.