Effectiveness of growing cereal crops in short-term organic crop rotations in the Left Bank Forest Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

Goal. To determine the influence of different systems of organic fertilization on the yield and quality of millet and buckwheat grain in short-term crop rotations and the economic efficiency of their cultivation. Methods. Field — to study the interaction of research objects with natural and agrotechnical factors; laboratory — to determine the content of the main nutrients in soil and plants, the chemical composition of grain; calculation and comparative — to assess the economic efficiency of growing crops in short-term crop rotations under different organic fertilizer systems; mathematical and statistical — to conduct dispersion analysis and statistical processing of research results. Results. For the cultivation of cereal crops in short-term crop rotations (soybeans — spring wheat — millet and soybeans — spring wheat — buckwheat) on typical chornozems with unstable moisture in the Left Bank Forest Steppe in 2022–2023, it was established that, depending on the fertilizer system, the yield of millet grain was 3.55–4.22 t / ha, buckwheat — 1.07–1.72 t/ha with protein content — 10.79–10.96 and 12.60–13.34%, respectively. The complex application of organic fertilizers, which involved seed sowing, the introduction of by-products of the predecessor and biofertilizer «Bio-Gel» at a dose of 3.0 l/ha, provided the maximum conditional net profit of UAH 8.93 thousand/ha and a level of profitability of 235% for the cultivation of millet, and conditional profit of UAH 17.65 thousand/ha and a level of profitability of 464% for growing buckwheat. Conclusions. The most profitable was the fertilizer system, which provided the introduction of by-products of precursors with organic liquid fertilizer «Bio-Gel» — 392% and 676% for millet and buckwheat, respectively.