Суть розробки, основні результати:
Fertilizer products which have an effective microorganism as a component,
for example, microorganisms that can benefit plant organisms due to symbiosis.
Amount of this products increases extremely fast and are becoming increasingly
popular, especially among agricultural producers who certify their products as
organic. Fertilizers life this have a different name, some scientists call them
biofertilizers, another – soil (or plant) probiotics, but the name doesn`t change the
composition, which is the same. Nowadays, biofertilizers are one of the ways which
can increase the yield of crops grown by organic technology. This happens due to
the mobilization of macro- and microelements contained in the soil, due to the work
of microorganisms, cooperation them with plants. Fertilizer products with effective
microorganisms present themselves as a result of their low cost, cheap ingredients,
and small-cost production methods, despite their proven effectiveness.
The use of soil tillage in corn production is a topic of ongoing discussion at
the moment. It is commonly accepted that deep tillage increases the yield of crops
but has a negative impact on the biodiversity of the soil. On the other hand, top
cultivation of the soil or its absence (no-till) reduces yield but helps to improve the
condition of the soil by protecting the environment for microorganisms.
Farmers now have a great resource in fertilizer products as a result of the issue
with inorganic fertilizer prices that are constantly growing. Due to the rule Organic
Standard, using of synthetically produced mineral fertilizers is forbidden.
Nevertheless, the question of choosing the optimal soil tillage method for growing
corn remains open, as it requires a compromise between yield and preservation of
soil biodiversity.
The research led to the study of the effects of primary tillage and fertilizer
products with effective microorganisms on corn hybrids with different FAO. It was
established that flat-cut tillage to a depth of 25-28 cm had a significant effect on the
height of plants when growing Harmonium (FAO 380), while in all variants of
treatment with soil pro-prebiotics, combined treatments with fertilizer products
(VITAMIN O7 + 1 LEANUM, VITAMIN O7 + 2 LEANUM, LEANUM +1
LEANUM and LEANUM +2 LEANUM), or processing by leaves (control +1
LEANUM and control +2 LEANUM). It is important to note that LEANUM is a
liquid and that VITAMIN O7 is a powder. As a result, both fertilizer products were
used for inoculation, whereas only LEANUM was used for leaf treatment. It has
been proven that inoculation did not show any positive effect on plant height. For
the cultivation of Hemingway (FAO 280), among the soil tillage, flat-cut tillage to a
depth of 25-28 cm and disking to a depth of 15-18 cm had the best effect on plant
height. Remarkably, compared to other tillage alternatives, the height of the plants
was much higher in the option without the use of fertilizers (control) as a result. The
effect of biofertilizers on the height of corn plants was significant only for combined
treatments with fertilizers and foliar treatments. At the same time, the height of the
cob attachment for both hybrids was higher than when flat-cut cultivation was
performed to a depth of 25-28 cm. However, it is difficult to clearly identify which
treatment with fertilizer products contributed to the increase in the indicator, since
in almost all variants, except for the control + 2 LEANUM for disking to a depth of
5-8 cm, the indicator of the height of the cob attachment was higher than in the
control. The diameter of the stem of both hybrids was also significantly affected by
flat-cut tillage to a depth of 25-28 cm. At the same time, when growing Harmonium,
for all tillage options, the highest values of stem diameter were recorded for
LEANUM inoculation and the combined LEANUM + 2 LEANUM treatment. For
Hemingway it is difficult to pinpoint the specific soil pro-prebiotic treatment that
would guarantee an increase in this parameter.
With the exception of disking to a depth of 5-8 cm, which resulted in a
significantly lower indication, the area of the leaf surface throughout the cultivation
of Harmonium remained statistically unchanged for each of the tillage alternatives.
At the same time, fertilizing products led to an increase in leaf surface area in all
variants, except LEANUM and LEANUM + 2 LEANUM, compared to the control.
The increase in the area of the leaf surface of Hemingway was significantly
influenced by flat cutting to a depth of 25-28 cm and disking to a depth of 5-8 cm.
Among the options for using biofertilizers, all options, except for LEANUM and
VITAMIN O7 inoculation, led to a significant increase in the leaf surface area.
Tillage and the use of biofertilizers significantly influenced the concentration
of chlorophyll a and the total concentration of chlorophyll a and b during the
cultivation of Harmonium. Disking to a depth of 15-18 cm resulted in the lowest
chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll values, a trend that was also observed for the
other hybrid. During Hemingway's cultivation, tillage and the use of biological
fertilizers did not affect concetration of pigment parameters.
The structure of the harvest indexes (length, diameter, number of rows in a
cob, number of grains in one row) differed for each of the hybrids. In particular,
when growing Harmonium, none of the options for the main tillage had a significant
effect on the length of the cob, but combined treatments with fertilizer products
(VITAMIN O7 + 2 LEANUM, LEANUM + 1 LEANUM and LEANUM + 2
LEANUM), leaf treatments (control + 1 LEANUM ) and LEANUM inoculation
provided an increase in the index. The increase in the diameter of the cob occurred
when performing plowing and flat cutting to a depth of 25-28 cm on the variant
control +2 LEANUM. At the same time, statistically, the influence of tillage was not
significant, in contrast to the use of biofertilizers. In particular, when compared with
the control, the variants control +1 LEANUM, control +2 LEANUM and LEANUM
had a significant positive effect. None of the investigated factors had a significant
effect on the number of rows in a cob, while the effect on the number of grains in a
row was significant. Thus, all tillage options had an effect on the indicator compared
to the control, however, when performing flat-cut tillage to a depth of 25-28 cm, the
number of grains in a row was significantly greater, and when disking to a depth of
15-18 and 5-8 cm was significantly less. At the same time, no variant of biofertilizers
had a significant impact.
None of the studied factors had a positive effect on the length of the cob and
its diameter of Hemingway hybrid. At the same time, using of plowing to a depth of
25-28 cm and foliar application by 1 LEANUM, as well as disking to a depth of 5-8
cm and combined application of inoculant LEANUM and double foliar application
LEANUM, the number of rows in the cob significantly increased. However, none of
the options led to a significant increase in the number of grains in the row.
When growing Harmonium hybrid, an increase in the weight of 1000 seeds
was noted in the variant of plowing to a depth of 25-28 cm and the variant with
inoculation and two-time foliar application of LEANUM, the yield compared to the
control increased by 21.9 %. The grain yield of the Hemingway hybrid was higher
compared to the control by 27.2 % on the background of inoculation and two
application of LEANUM on the background of flat-cut tillage.
It's also important to note that the usage of fertilizer products and the adoption
of various soil cultivation techniques had a big impact on the harvest's quality
indicators. So, for example, when growing Harmonium by plowing to a depth of 25-
28 cm and treating with biofertilizer on the leaf (control + 2 LEANUM), as well as
by disking to a depth of 5-8 cm together with control options + 1 LEANUM and
inoculation with VITAMIN O7, an increase was observed protein content. With
regard to oil content, an increase was observed only with disking to a depth of 5-8
cm and combined treatment with LEANUM + 1 LEANUM. The starch content
reached the highest values when plowing to a depth of 25-28 cm and combined
treatments VITAMIN O7 + 2 LEANUM and LEANUM + 1 LEANUM. An increase
in the ash content was observed when plowing to a depth of 25-28 cm and treatments
control + 2 LEANUM, LEANUM and LEANUM + 2 LEANUM. During the
cultivation of the Hemingway hybrid, it was found that the greatest changes in the
indicators of protein, oil, starch and ash content were observed when disking to a
depth of 5-8 cm and combined processing with the use of VITAMIN O7 + 2
LEANUM. When plowing to a depth of 25-28 cm was used, the values of oil
indicators increased on the combined options of treatment with fertilizer products,
and the content of starch and ash depended on the depth and type of tillage. In
contrast, the fiber content did not show significant changes in any of the variants.
It is important to take into account the correlations between the factors under
investigation and grain quality. Thus, during the cultivation of Harmonium, tillage
and fertilizing products did not have a significant correlation with the protein content
of corn grains. Tillage shows a weak negative correlation with oil and starch content,
but this effect is offset by biofertilizers, showing a moderate positive correlation.
Similar dependences were also observed for ash and fiber content, where tillage
showed a negative correlation, and fertilizer products showed a positive correlation.
Also, all tillage showed a moderate negative correlation with fiber, while
biofertilizers showed a weak positive correlation. Under Hemingway cultivation,
tillage had a weak negative correlation with oil, starch, and fiber content of corn
kernels, and these relationships were statistically significant. Overall, application of
biofertilizers showed a weak positive correlation with starch, ash and fiber, which
was also statistically significant. All indicators of crop quality had a certain level of
positive correlation with each other, except fiber, which showed a moderate negative
correlation with protein and oil. At the same time, a weak inverse relationship
between tillage and yield was found for both hybrids. The production of both hybrids
exhibits a poor direct association with biofertilizers at similarly.
During the research, the influence of tillage on soil moisture and cellulose decomposing activity was also studied. According to dispersion analysis, the
influence of tillage on soil moisture is significant. In particular, the indicator of
moisture content before sowing indicated that in the flat-cut tillage to a depth of 25-
28 cm, the field soil moisture content is significantly lower than after plowing. In
turn, the correlation analysis indicates that a significant impact was found not due to
the agricultural unit used for cultivation, but due to the depth of this cultivation and
the amount of moisture that was available due to precipitation in each of the studied
years.
At the same time, during the study of cellulose-decomposing activity, not only
the influence of tillage, but also the inoculation of VITAMIN O7 and LEANUM
was investigated. Thus, it was established that inoculation did not have any positive
effect on the investigated indicator, however, tillage did. Carrying out the main
autumn cultivation of the soil significantly affects the activity of the soil biota. For
example, at a depth of 0-10 and 10-20 cm, the indicators of linen decomposition
were approximately the same for all processing options, except for disking to a depth
of 15-18 cm, where significantly lower indicators were found. However, at a depth
of 20-30 cm, the lowest biota activity values were observed in the 25-28 cm plowing
and 25-28 cm flat-cut treatments, while the shallower soil treatments had higher
values, although not significant.
The thesis presents the first proposed method of seed inoculation during
sowing, that reducing the involvement of labor in this process and reducing energy
consumption. This can be done by inoculating directly in the field, solution covers
seed directly by spraying. Such a procedure is ensured by converting the sowing
machine and installing some additional elements. In this method, coating the seed
with the inoculant at the same time as the seed enters the soil is better than applying
it before sowing in advance, especially considering that the strains of
microorganisms should not be exposed to direct sunlight and may reduce the
effectiveness due to the prolongation of the time from treatment to the sowing
process.
After analyzing the economic efficiency, it can be concluded that the options
with the highest yield are the most profitable. In particular, for the cultivation of
Harmonium, the highest profit (21,305 hryvnias/ha) was obtained for plowing to a
depth of 25-28 cm and combined treatment with LEANUM + 2 LEANUM
biofertilizers. At the same time, the highest profit (UAH 25,722/ha) for growing
Hemingway was obtained with the same combined treatment with biofertilizers
(LEANUM + 2 LEANUM), but with flat-cut tillage to a depth of 25-28 cm.
As a result of the conducted research, the increase in productivity of different
hybrids is ensured in different ways. For example, for Harmonium, the increase in productivity was ensured by the use of plowing to a depth of 25-28 cm as the main
tillage, while for Hemingway the highest yield was achieved by flat-cut tillage to a
depth of 25-28 cm. However, the only option that ensured a reliable increase in yield
was the combined treatment with LEANUM + 2 LEANUM fertilizer products.