Comprehensive assessment of the influence of basic soil cultivation and fertilizing on structural elements, grain yield and green mass of corn
Authors:   Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, Panchenko T. , Novokhatskyi M. ,   Leonid Pogorilyi UkrNDIPVT, Grabovskyi M. ,   Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, Kozak L. ,   Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, Pravdiva L. ,   Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University
Published: February 2024

Purpose of the study: To investigate the impact of primary soil tillage practices and fertilization variants on the yield of maize hybrids grown for grain and silage production in a grain-legume crop rotation, aiming to achieve high grain yield and green biomass for silage under the conditions of the central Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. Research methods: field, laboratory, comparative, analysis, summarization, mathematical-statistical. Results. The article presents the research results on the cultivation of maize hybrids for grain and silage production, employing various primary soil tillage techniques and different fertilization methods. The impact of these agronomic practices on grain yield and green biomass intended for silage has been examined. The conducted studies revealed that for the maize hybrid «Monica 350 MV», the optimal approach involved plowing to a depth of 25-27 cm with the application of 40 t/ha of manure + N100P110K100 fertilizers. This method achieved a grain yield of 9.18 t/ha. Conversely, utilizing the disc harrow «AG-2.4» at a depth of 15-17 cm with the same fertilizer variant resulted in a lower yield of 8.64 t/ha. Regarding the cultivation of the S3825 hybrid for green biomass intended for silage, the most effective method was plowing to a depth of 25-27 cm along with N120P130K120 fertilization. Under these conditions, the yield of green biomass during the milk-waxy – early waxy ripeness phase reached 45.9 t/ha. Using the disc harrow «AG-2.4» at a depth of 15-17 cm with the maximum amount of fertilizers in our research led to a yield of 43.4 t/ha. Conclusion. The influence of the tillage method on the elements of the corn yield structure was established. Strong changes in the size of the elements of the corn yield structure, are observed depending on the fertilization options. It was noted that with the growth of fertilizer rates, their effectiveness decreases. Tillage had a less effect than fertilization on the level of yield of green mass of corn per silage. However, cultural plowing to a depth of 25-27 cm had a significant advantage in terms of the yield of green mass of corn per silage, compared to cultivation with a disc unit «AG 2.4» to a depth of 15-17 cm. Thus, it can be assumed that an increase in the depth of soil cultivation contributes to an increase in productivity green mass of corn for silage. Application of high rates of mineral fertilizers led to an increase in the yield of green mass of corn per silage. A trend has been established to increase the efficiency of fertilizer use on variants with soil cultivation by the «AG 2.4» disk unit. The highest efficiency of fertilizers was observed on the variant with the application of N90P100K90. Key words: maize, soil tillage, fertilization, productivity elements, grain yield, green biomass yield.