Spring barley grain yield when grown in the conditions of southern Ukraine with elements of biologization and preservation of soil fertility

Abstract

The study aimed to assess the effects of varietal characteristics, nutrition optimization, and pre-sowing seed treatment on the productivity of spring barley under conditions of climatic variability in the Southern Steppe of Ukraine, based on the implementation of biologized elements of cultivation technology. The research was conducted from 2021 to 2024 in a three-factor field experiment on southern chernozem soil, using a randomized block design with four replications. The effects of two spring barley cultivars (Avatar and Hermes), three nutrition backgrounds (no fertilization, N30P30K30; and N30P30K30combined with winter wheat straw, white mustard as a green manure crop, the residue biodecomposer Ecostern, and additional nitrogen N10), and two variants of pre-sowing seed treatment (water and the biopreparation BTU-R) were studied. The results were evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The highest grain yield of spring barley was obtained under the biologized fertilization system. Compared with the control, yield increases amounted to 1.32 t/ha (41.9%) for the cultivar Avatar and 1.36 t/ha (40.7%) for the cultivar Hermes. Presowing seed treatment with BTU-R increased yield by 0.42 t/ha (12.4%) on the unfertilized background and by up to 5.9% under mineral fertilization. The average grain yield over four years was 4.25 t/ha for Avatar and 4.13 t/ha for Hermes. The results were obtained under the soil and climatic conditions of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine, and the effectiveness of the technological elements largely depended on annual moisture conditions. The proposed fertilization system can be applied in agricultural practice to increase crop yields and maintain soil fertility in arid regions. The study provides a comprehensive justification for the combined use of organo-biological and mineral nutrition elements as an effective adaptive strategy for spring barley cultivation under current climate change conditions.