Productivity of winter barley depending on its predecessors in Transcarpathia of Ukraine

Abstract

Winter barley is a valuable food, fodder, and technical crop. The purpose of the study is the establishing and developing of an economically and energetically feasible, adequate bioresource potential for the yield of winter barley grain, depending on its predecessors in Transcarpathia of Ukraine. Studies and calculations of the balance of available moisture in the soil showed that in the conditions of Transcarpathia, it is negative and ranges from 250 to 1210 t/ha, or 25-121 mm. The accumulation and effective use of available moisture in the soil depends on the amount of precipitation and its frequency, the alternation of crops in crop rotation (predecessors), the system of tillage, fertilisation, and the extent of how weeded the fields are. The largest reserves of available moisture in the soil during the sowing period of winter barley were after winter rapeseed and buckwheat, the smallest – after sunflower and, especially, corn for grain. During the autumn-winter period, the reserves of available moisture in the meter-deep soil layer were replenished by 21-35%, but the pattern, according to its predecessors, was preserved. The critical period of winter barley in terms of moisture occurs during earing – grain ripening. Predecessors of early harvesting periods (winter rapeseed and buckwheat) have a positive effect on the accumulation and preservation of moisture in the soil. Predecessors of late harvesting periods (corn for grain and sunflower) reduce the content of available moisture and its reserves by up to 18% compared to crops of early harvesting. On average, for three years, the highest yield of winter barley was after buckwheat and amounted to 5.9 t/ha, the lowest – after corn for grain and was at the level of 4.9 t/ha, which is 0.8 t/ha lower than the control option

Keywords

• available moisture content
• winter barley
• predecessor
• yield