Condition of winter crops in the Kharkivska Oblast as of march 18, 2021

 Scientists of the Plant Production Institute named after V.Ya. Yuriev of NAAS guided by Doctor of Agricultural Sciences Riabchun Nataliia Ivanivna surveyed of plants sampled from winter crop fields. They found that as of March 18, 2021, roots and root systems, tillering nodes and apical cone tissues in tillering plants of winter wheat varieties recommended for growing were not severely damaged. The plant survival was quite high: from 91-98% of live plants in well-developed crops to 78-89% in fields with underdeveloped plants.

 The regrowth of underdeveloped plants in monoliths is slow, which may be due to a decrease in the soluble carbohydrate contents in the tillering nodes because of the unstable thermal mode in the winter and leak of nutrients, including nitrogen, from the root layer of soil. As of mid-March, the tillering nodes of well-developed plants of Ukrainian winter wheat varieties Doskonala, Bohdana, Pryvitna, Podolianka, Zapashna, Pryvablyva and Haiok contained 23.5-27.6% of soluble carbohydrates. In underdeveloped plants of Ukrainian varieties, their content was 12.7-19.1%. Such fields especially need starting fertilization for active rooting and formation of the photosynthetic apparatus in plants. Post-fallow and post-irrigated pea crops regrow better (the carbohydrate amount amounts to 27.6%; the survival amounts to 96-98%); post-sunflower, post-corn and post-stubble crops regrow slightly slower (the carbohydrate content amounts to 12.7-20.2 %; the survival amounts to 89-95%). Across the surveyed areas of winter barley, the plant survival was 37-70% in the poorly developed fields. The regrowth intensity of live shoots and roots is low, especially in foreign varieties.

 Thus, the today’s condition of the winter cereal fields is mostly in good or satisfactory, however, as plants are weakened poorly developed since autumn, special attention should be paid to the timely application of nitrogen fertilizers. In this case, nitrogen fertilization should be primarily carried out in by spreading at a dose of 40-50 kg of active substance/ha on poorly developed and thinned crops to improve the plant regeneration, the development of root systems and tillering shoots and to intensify the growth of photosynthesizing leaf surface.