The effect of seed sowing rates on spring durum wheat productivity

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to establish the effect of sowing rates of spring durum wheat on its productivity. There has been established that reducing seed sowing rates from 7 to 3 million germinated seeds per 1 ha allows reducing spring durum wheat vegetation period by 6–7 days. There has been identified maximum density of productive stems of the two varieties at a seeding rate of 6 and 7 million germinated seeds per 1 ha. The highest productive tillering capacity for two spring durum wheat varieties was obtained at the variant with a norm of 5 million germinated seeds per 1 ha. Thus, according to the experimental variants, the average plant height of the variety ‘Bezenchukskaya Niva’ was 70.6 cm in the control variant and 81.8 cm at a sowing rate of 5 million germinated seeds per 1 ha. The variety ‘Bezenchukskaya Zolotistaya’ has produced the tallest plants of 79.5 cm, with a seeding rate of 4 million germinated seeds per 1 ha. There has been established that the length of a head also increases with a seeding rate decrease; for example, in the variety ‘Bezenchukskaya Niva’, the maximum indicators of the main head were formed at a seeding rate of 5 million germinated seeds per 1 ha, where the maximum length of the main head was 6.7 cm, the number of grains was 27.5 pieces with a weight of 1.47 g. For the variety ‘Bezenchukskaya Zolotistaya’, the maximum head length was 5.6 cm, and the number of grains was 24 pieces at a rate of 4 million germinated seeds per 1 ha. The fullest grain of the variety ‘Bezenchukskaya Niva’ with 53.4 g of ‘1000-grain weight’ was formed at a seeding rate of 5 million germinated seeds per 1 ha; the variety ‘Bezenchukskaya Zolotistaya’ was 50.4g with a norm of 6 million germinated seeds per 1 ha. The maximum productivity of the variety ‘Bezenchukskaya Niva’ was 3.54 t/ha with a seeding rate of 5 million germinated seeds per 1 ha. The variety ‘Bezenchukskaya Zolotistaya’ formed a yield of 3.23 t/ha with a seeding rate of 6 million germinated seeds per 1 ha.