Formation of Seed Productivity and Sowing Qualities of Soft Winter Wheat Seeds Depending on the Levels of Mineral Nutrition of Plants in the Western Forest Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

Today, considerable attention is paid to the intensification of grain production, which depends on the accelerated introduction of highly productive varietal resources with the preservation of the properties of the variety in the process of further reproduction, the production of high-quality and competitive products for the sub-markets of pre-basic, basic, and certified seeds. Improved technologies for growing soft winter wheat should be based on the effective use of the soil and climatic conditions of the studied region, the biological, the genetic potential of varieties, technological innovations in agrotechnical methods of growing crops and the optimal use of material and technical resources. They should be effective for both the producer and the consumer of seed products. The purpose of the research was to determine the features of the formation of seed productivity and sowing qualities of soft winter wheat seeds, depending on the levels of mineral nutrition of plants in the Western Forest Steppe of Ukraine. The methodological basis consisted of general scientific and special research methods. Studies have established that with the low natural fertility of grey forest surface-gley soils of the Western Forest Steppe and considering climate change towards warming with a decrease in precipitation, the introduction of new more productive varieties of intensive type, complex forms of mineral fertilisers, microfertilisers, growth regulators into agricultural production, the questions of the nutrition system of soft winter wheat plants are insufficiently substantiated in this region. The research results presented in the article from 2019 to 2021 demonstrate the issues of the influence of the norm of application of mineral fertilisers with stage-by-stage feeding with nitrogen in different phases of organogenesis on the formation of indicators of seed productivity of varieties of the forest steppe ecological type of soft winter wheat. It was found that the rate of yield of conditioned seeds was the lowest in the control without fertilisers and grew by 16-20% for the application of mineral fertilisers. The seed yield varied from 1.58 t/ha in the control to 4.59 t/ha at the rate of N220P90K160S28, and the multiplication factor, respectively, from 6.3 to 19.8 units. According to this option, the total yield of the large and medium fractions was from 94.9 to 95.2%. A balanced complex of macroelements positively influenced the formation of indicators of sowing qualities of seeds, increasing the weight of 1000 seeds by 5.3-7.5 g, germination energy – from 4.8 to 8.4%, laboratory germination – from 13.6 to 14.4%