EFFICIENCY OF METHODS OF MAIN PROCESSING OF DRAINED SEED-FLUID SOILS UNDER SOWING OF CORN FOR GRAIN IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE PRECARPATHIAN

Abstract

Corn is the third most important crop after wheat and rice, an important grain crop in Ukraine and around the world. Its value and versatility lie in the directions where it is used: as a fodder and technical culture, as well as in the food industry. Therefore, the increase of corn sown areas, obtaining consistently high yields is a very important issue, because our country is one of the five largest exporters of corn grain in the world. Land reclamation measures made it possible to bring in agricultural use and turn into arable land large areas of waterlogged land that were not used before. An important problem of the drained systems of Precarpathia is to ensure a favorable land reclamation condition, in particular on the basis of improving their agrophysical properties. Therefore, the issue of choosing technologies that should be used on drained lands to ensure an increase in the production of the main agricultural crops without violating modern standards of environmental protection is relevant. The purpose of the study was to give a comparative assessment of different methods of main cultivation on the agrophysical parameters of sod-podzolic soil and the productivity of corn crops per grain in the conditions of Precarpathia. It was established that the soil moisture at the time of corn sowing was higher in the variants where plowing with soil deepening was carried out. In the phase of waxy ripeness, higher humidity in the subsoil layer was noted on the variants where its loosening was carried out. A lower volumetric weight, higher total porosity and air capacity were obtained on variants with loosening of the subsoil layer. A significant increase in the yield of corn grain was obtained in the variants where plowing was carried out at 20–22 cm, plowing at 20–22 cm + loosening at 12–14 cm, deep plowing without rotating the skid (25–27 cm), and the highest grain yield was provided by plowing at 20–22 cm + loosening by 12–14 cm. A higher level of profitability (60,2%) and energy equivalent (2,32) was provided by plowing at 20–22 cm + loosening at 12–14 cm below the level of plowing.