Application of fertilizers and optimization of soil fertility for soybean

Abstract

The aim and tasks of the study. The purpose was to study the effects of different mineral fertilizers on the yields of soybean varieties.

Materials and methods. The main field studies were conducted in the Department of Plant Production and Variety Investigation of the Plant Production Institute named after VYa Yuriev of NAAS of Ukraine in 2011–2015.

The soil was deep weakly-leached chernozem with granular structure. It is characterized by the following agrochemical parameters: humus content (by Tyurin’s method) – 5.38%; hydrolytic acidity -– 3.29 mg/eq. per100 gof soil. The reserves of nutrients in the no-fertilizer control were as follows: nitrogen – 132 mg/kg, phosphorus – 104 mg kg, potassium – 128 mg kg; with mineral fertilizers: nitrogen – 130–140 mg/kg, phosphorus – 180–200 mg/kg, potassium 170–190 mg/kg of soil.

In the study zone, the main limiting factors are the precipitation amount and temperature regime during the growing season of crops, including soybean.

Results and discussion. Over the period of 2011–2013, the average yield was soybean was 1.99 t/ha with fluctuations, depending on the variety and fertilizer, of 1.31 t/ha to 2.63 t/ha. Of the varieties, Korado, Desna, Cheremosh and Kolbi gave the highest yields of 2.21–2.31 t/ha. Varieties Desna, Korado, Romantika, Ametist, Vasilkovskaya and some others provided yields of 2.01–2.22 t/ha without fertilizers, due to the natural soil fertility. A positive response of varieties to organic fertilizers was also observed: in variety Korado, a gain in the yield was 0.41 t/ha, in Cheremosh, it was 0.37 t/ha; in Malvina – 0.35 t/ha; in Desna and Relay – 0.28 t/ha in comparison with the crop rotation variant.

Over the period of 2014–2015, the highest yields, on average, were achieved from varieties Medison and Adamos -– 2.12 t/ha and 2.09 t/ha, respectively. In the crop rotation variant (without fertilizers), quite high yields were obtained from varieties Medison, Adamos, Sprytna and Antratsyt – within 1.90 – 2.28 t/ha.

Conclusions. Varieties providing the maximum yield in the different study years were identified. Thus, in 2011-2013, Korado, Desna, Cheremosh and Kolby gave the highest yields, varying 2.21 t ha to 2.31 t/ha. Varieties Desna, Korado, Romantika, Ametist, Vasilkovskaya and some others gave yields of 2.01 – to 2.22 t/ha due without fertilizers, to the soil natural fertility. In 2014-2015, Medison and Adamos were noticeable for high values of 2.12 t/ha and 2.09 t/ha, respectively. In the no fertilizer variant, varieties Medison, Adamos, Sprytna, and Antratsyt had high yields of 1.90 – 2.28 t/ha.

Varieties Korado, Cheremosh, Malvina, Desna, and Estafeta positively responded to organic fertilizers, providing a gain in yields of 0.28-0.41 t/ha.