Field germination of seeds, the viability and survival rate of spring barley plants under various variants of the nutrition system in the Southern Steppe of Ukraine
Authors: Spilnyk S.S. , Rozhkov A.A. , Kiriyak Yu.P. 
Published: February 2023

The article presents the results of three-year studies on the influence of various variants of the nutrition system on the field germination of seeds, the viability and survival rate of spring barley plants in the Southern Steppe of Ukraine.

Formulation of the problem. Analysis of the spring barley yield in Ukraine indicates a significant lag behind the leading agrarian countries of the EU. Now there is a tendency for a gradual increase in its yield in Ukraine, in particular in 2018, 2019 and 2020 it was 2,75, 3,25 and 3,27 t/ha. At the same time, it is still half as much in comparison with the leading EU countries, which is why there is a need to look for ways to increase the yield of spring barley in specific growing conditions.

The purpose of the research was to determine the effect of various options for the main application of complex fertilizers and foliar dressing with various options for a mixture of urea, biostimulant and polymer fertilizers on field germination of seeds, viability and survival rate of spring barley plants in the conditions of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine.

Research methodology. The studies were carried out during 2018–2020 on the fields of the educational and experimental farm of the separate structural unit "Novokakhovskiy specialized college of the DmytroMotornyiTavria State Agrotechnological University", located in the central part of the Kakhovka district of the Kherson region. The two-way experiment was carried out by the split-section method in four repetitions and two tiers. Five options for the main application of mineral fertilizers and five options for foliar dressing were studied. The sowing area was 120 m2, and the counting area was 80 m2.

Research results. In the course of the research, a tendency to increase the indices of field germination of seeds was established for all variants of the main application of complex fertilizers. It was the highest on the options for using ammonium nitrate phosphate fertilizer at the rate of N30P30K30 and N60P60K60 82.9 %, which is almost 2,0 % higher than in the control.

The main application of fertilizers and foliar dressing, by improving nutrition and leveling exogenous stresses, significantly increased the viability and survival rate of spring barley plants. By optimizing the feeding system (variant of the main application of ammonium nitrate phosphate fertilizer N60P60K60, followed by two foliar dressings: during microphase 31 with a mixture of carbamide (N10 kg/ha), Efisoil Renovation at a dose of 0,4 l/ha and Folik Micro at a dose of 1,5 l/ha and during microphase 39 with a mixture of Efisoil Renovation at a dose of 0,4 l/ha together with Folik Micro at a dose of 3,0 l/ha), the safety and survival of plants was 5,6 and 10,5 % higher, respectively, than in the control.

Thus, the optimization of the feeding system of spring barley, even under the condition of the same indicators of all other elements of the yield structure, only due to the higher survival rate of plants, provides an increase in grain yield by more than 10,0 %.

Key words: spring barley, main fertilization, foliar feeding, field germination, viability, survival rate.