The yield of winter wheat depending on sowing terms
Abstract
V.F. Petrychenko, V.V. Lykhochvor*, O.V. Korniichuk and Y.M. Olifir
To study the influence of sowing dates of winter wheat of Kubus variety on yield, including late ones after sugar beet. The following sowing dates were investigated: September 1, 10, 20, and 30, October 10 and 20, November 10 and 30, and December 20. It was found that at later sowing dates, the field germination decreases: in October to 88.0–86.8 %, in November to 84.1–80.4 %, in December to 76.4 %. Plant survival was 84.1–94.2 %. Plant density, productive stems, and tillering coefficient were the highest during sowing on September 30. During sowing in November and December, the plants did not reach the beginning of tillering phase; the coefficient of productive tillering approached one (1.12–1.14). It was found that the number of ears in the ear was stable for all sowing dates (16.6–17.4 pieces), the maximum number of grains in the ear (48 pieces) was recorded during the sowing on September 30. The weight of grain from the ear in all variants was high; during sowing on September 30, October 10, and 20, it was equal to 1.61–1.60 g. In November-December, it decreased up to 1.55 g, 1.52 g, and 1.45 g. The highest grain yield (9.43 t/ha) of winter wheat in the western forest-steppe of Ukraine was formed during sowing on September 30. In November, the yield decreased by 1.31 t/ha and 1.89 t/ha compared to sowing on September 30 and by 2.40 t/ha in December. The optimal sowing dates of winter wheat of the Kubus variety in the conditions of the western Forest-Steppe fall on the period from September 20 to October 10. In the conditions of global climate changes, the possibility of obtaining 7–8 t/ha of grain during sowing in November-December is substantiated. For a yield of 9 t/ha and above, the following combination of structural elements is optimal: the density of productive stems should be approximately 600 pcs/m2, the weight of grain from the ear – 1.60 g.