INFLUENCE OF MACRO- AND MICRO-FERTILIZERS ON BIOMETRY, PERFORMANCE AND QUALITATY OF SUNFLOWER HYBRIDS Totskyi V.M., Len А. І. Poltava State Agricultural Research Station named after N.I. Vavilov of the Institute of Pig Breeding and Agroindustrial Production of NAAS Ukraine The results of a two-year study of fertilizer effects on the performance of hybrids sunflower Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok in the Left-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

The results of a two-year study of fertilizer effects on the performance of hybrids sunflower Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok in the Left-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine are presented. Relationships of biometric (plant height, leaf area, calathidium size), performance (1000-seed weight, yield) and quality (oil content in seeds) indicators with mineral fertilizers, microfertilizers and their compatibility are described.

the oil content in seeds of hybrids increased from 0.8% to 2.4% compared to the 'no fertilizer' experiment [10].
Therefore, it is important to study the effects of microfertilizers or their compatibility with mineral macrofertilizers on the sunflower performance. In addition, the introduction into production of new sunflower hybrids requires specifying parameters of their cultivation technologies for certain soil and climatic conditions.
Purpose. Our purpose was to study the effects of fertilizers on the growth, development and yield of sunflower hybrids of different ripeness groups (bred at the Institute of Oil Crops) in the Left-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine.
Material and methods. The study was conducted at Poltava State Agricultural Research Station named after N.I. Vavilov in 2019-2020 The study object was processes of the growth and development of sunflower plants and formation of sunflower seeds depending on farming techniques.
The sunflower cultivation technology in the experiments was traditional for the soil-climatic zone. The experiments were laid out and carried out in accordance with conventional methods of field experiments in agriculture and crop production [1].
The soil in the plots was typical low-humus chernozem. The mechanical composition of the soil is heavy loam with the following agrochemical parameters: the humus content in the 0-20 cm layer was 4.85%; in the 20-40 cm layer, it was 3.91%; and in the 150-170 cm layer, it was 0.71%. The agrochemical survey showed that the soil of the experimental field was well supplied with major nutrients. The arable layer contained 11-13 mg of hydrolysable nitrogen (by Cornfield's methos), 10-15 mg of mobile phosphorus (by Chyrykov's method), and 16-20 mg of exchangeable potassium per 100 g of soil (by Chyrykov's method).
The climate of this zone is temperate-continental with unstable precipitation, cold winters and hot, often dry, summers. The average multi-year air temperature is + 7.7°С, the amount of precipitation is 508 mm. The average air temperature is 18.3°С, and the amount of precipitation is 225 mm during the growing period (third 10 days of April -September). In the study years, the weather indicators differed from the multi-year averages. In 2019, the amount of precipitation during the vegetation period was 119 mm, and the average air temperature was 20.8°С. In 2020, they were 294 mm and 19.7°C, respectively. The hydrothermal coefficient was 0.43 and 1.12 respectively, with the multi-year average of 0.93.
Results and discussion. The results show that mineral macro-and microfertilizers contributed to more intensive growth and development of plants. Thus, the tallest plants grew with mineral fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 + foliar fertilization of plants with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar (1 kg/ha) in the phase of 2-3 pairs of leaves. The plant height increased from 7.0 cm to 11.0 cm compared with the control (no fertilizers). On average for the two study years, fertilization made plants taller, from 2.0 to 9.0 cm, depending on the experimental variant. The study revealed that the leaf area depended on treatment in the sunflower hybrids. On average, the leaf area in hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok was the largest with mineral fertilizers N 32 R 32 K 32 + foliar fertilization of plants with urea (10 kg/ha) in the phase of 5-6 pairs of leaves: 45.9 dm 2 , 45.2 dm² and 45.3 dm², respectively. Taller sunflower plants with well-developed assimilating surface of leaves form larger calathidiums with more flowers, which ultimately increases yields. In our study, mineral fertilizers helped to increase the size of calathidiums. The calathidium diameter in the hybrids increased from 0.7 cm to 1.4 cm, depending on the fertilizer dose, compared with the control (no fertilizers). The maximum calathidium diameter of 16.7-17.5 cm was achieved in hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok mainly with mineral fertilizers N 32 R 32 K 32 and foliar fertilization of plants with urea or microfertilizer Novalon Foliar (1 kg/ha) ( Table 1). Fertilization increased the 1000-seed weight from 1.7 g to 7.9 g compared to the control (no fertilizers). The highest 1000-seed weight in hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok was recorded with mineral fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 + foliar fertilization of plants with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar (1 kg/ha), amounting to 49.3 g, 73.8 g and 73.3 g, respectively.
Differences in the sunflower yields between the experimental variants indicate that the hybrids respond to factors under investigation. Hybrids (factor A) significantly affected the sunflower seed yield. Thus, the yield from Ahent was higher than that from Serpanok (by 0.17-0.26 t/ha) or from Ahronomichnyi (by 0.03-0.08 t/ha). Basic mineral fertilization N 32 P 32 K 32 plus foliar fertilization of plants with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar (1 kg/ha) or urea (factor B) helped to increase yields compared to the control (no fertilizers) from 0.18 t/ha to 0.33 t/ha depending on the fertilizers. The statistically significant difference between fertilization and control averaged 0.15 t/ha, confirming the fertilizer reliability. The combination of factors AB (hybrid Ahent and mineral fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 plus foliar fertilization of plants with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar (1 kg/ha) in the phase of 5-6 pairs of leaves) maximized the yield compared to non-fertilized hybrid Serpanok (by 0.48 t/ha). On average for the two years, the maximum yields from hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok were obtained with basic mineral fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 + foliar fertilization of plants with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar (1 kg/ha): 3.35 t/ha, 3.41 t/ha and 3.15 t/ha, respectively. The surplus to the control (no fertilizers) was 0.33 t/ha, 0.32 t/ha and 0.22 t/ha, respectively. Analyzing the yields of the hybrids by years, we observed an upward trend with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar in the phase of 5-6 pairs of leaves in 2019 and with this microfertilizer in the phase of 2-3 pairs of leaves in 2020. However, this difference was within the limits of experimental error. Fertilization of plants with urea (10 kg/ha) in the phase of 5-6 pairs of leaves in addition to basic mineral fertilizers N 32 Р 32 К 32 allowed for an increase in the hybrids' yields of 0.20-0.30 t/ha compared to the 'no fertilizer' experiment. The average yield in this variant was 3.32 t/ha, 3.37 t/ha and 3.13 t/ha from hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok, respectively. Basic fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 alone ensured the gain in the yields of 0.18-0.24 t/ha in comparison with the 'no fertilizer', and the yields amounted 3.26 t/ha, 3.31 t/ha and 3.11 t/ha from hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok, respectively ( Table 2). In our study, fertilization also affected the oil content in seeds. Mineral fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 decreased the oil content in the hybrids 1.1-1.7% compared to the 'no fertilizers' experiment. However, when plants were fertilized with urea or Novalon Foliar microfertilizer during the growing period, the oil content in seeds increased by 0.9-1.6%. When other variants were compared, the difference was 0.1-0.5%, which was within the limits of experimental error (LSD 0.7%). The highest content of oil in seeds was accumulated by hybrids Ahronomichnyi and Ahent with mineral fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 + foliar fertilization of plants with urea 10 kg/ha in the phase of 5-6 pairs of leaves (47.8% and 48.4%, respectively). Serpanok accumulated the greatest amount of oil (49.4%) without fertilizers. It should be noted that this hybrid ripened very too early, which may be consequence of a lower effectiveness of fertilizers for increasing the yield and oil content in seeds.
Along with the oil content in seeds, the oil collection per unit area is important. The highest collection of oil was achieved in the experiments with the best yields: 1,406 kg/ha, 1,446 kg/ha and 1,356 kg/ha, respectively. Due to application of mineral fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 + foliar fertilization of plants with microfertilizers, this parameter increased by 147 kg/ha, 139 kg/ha and 82 kg/ha compared to the control (no fertilizers) in hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok, respectively (Table 3). Conclusions. Our results mainly confirm the results of other studies. Mineral fertilizers and microfertilizers promote more intensive growth and development of plants and increase the yields of sunflower seeds. However, there are some discrepancies in the oil content in seeds. Some researchers reported that mineral fertilization increased the oil content in seeds compared to the control (no fertilizers). We found that application of mineral fertilizers at a dose of N 32 P 32 K 32 caused a decrease in the oil content in seeds, and only supplementary foliar fertilization with urea or microfertilizers increased this indicator. The oil content in Ahronomichnyi and Ahent increased by 0.1-0.5% compared to the 'no fertilizers' experiment. Serpanok accumulated the greatest amount of oil without fertilizers. The highest yield and oil collection from hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok were achieved by combining basic application of mineral fertilizers N 32 P 32 K 32 and foliar fertilization of plants with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar 1 kg/ha in the phase of 5-6 pairs of leaves: 3.35 t/ha, 3.41 t/ha, 3.15 t/ha, respectively, and 1,406 kg/ha, 1,446 kg/ha and 1,356 kg/ha, respectively. These results allow sunflower producers to choose those farming measures that will help increase not only the yield, but also the oil output per unit area.  The results show that mineral macro-and microfertilizers contributed to more intensive growth and development of plants. Thus, the tallest plants, the largest leaves and calathidiums, and the highest 1000-seed weight were recorded hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok with basic mineral fertilizers at a dose of N 32 Р 32 К 32 + foliar fertilization with carbamide (10 kg/ha) or with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar (1 kg/ha). The maximum yields from hybrids Ahronomichnyi, Ahent and Serpanok were achieved with basic mineral fertilizers N 32 Р 32 К 32 + foliar fertilization with microfertilizer Novalon Foliar (1 kg/ha) -3.35 t/ha, 3.41 t/ha and 3.15 t/ha respectively. The gain to the control (no fertilizers) was 0.33 t/ha, 0.32 t/ha and 0.22 t/ha, respectively. Fertilization also affected the oil content in seeds. Mineral fertilizers N 32 Р 32 К 32 decreased the oil content in the hybrid seeds by 1.1-1.7% compared to the 'no fertilizers' experiment. However, fertilization of plants during the growing period with urea or microfertilizer Novalon Foliar in combination with basic mineral fertilizers N 32 Р 32 К 32 significantly increased the oil content in seeds. With the best yields, the highest output of oil from the hybrids was 1,406 kg/ha, 1,446 kg/ha and 1,356 kg/ha, respectively. Conclusions. Our results mainly confirm the results of other studies. Mineral fertilizers and microfertilizers promote more intensive growth and development of plants and increase the yields of sunflower seeds. However, there are some discrepancies in the oil content in seeds. Some researchers reported that mineral fertilization increased the oil content in seeds compared to the control (no fertilizers). We found that application of mineral fertilizers at a dose of N 32 P 32 K 32 caused a decrease in the oil content in seeds, and only supplementary foliar fertilization with urea or microfertilizers increased this indicator.

INFLUENCE OF MACRO-AND MICRO-FERTILIZERS ON BIOMETRY, PERFORMANCE AND QUALITATY OF SUNFLOWER HYBRIDS
Key words: sunflower, hybrid, mineral fertilizer, microfertilizers, productivity, oil content.