Corn: Sowing Parameters

Aim. To highlight the results of the research conducted in 2020-2021 aiming at studying the effect of multi-depth and multifraction sowing of the hybrid corn seeds of the DMS Sticker mid-early maturity group on the yield when grown in the conditions of the Northern Steppe of Ukraine and determine the economic efficiency of the approaches.

Materials and methods. Winter wheat was a predecessor crop in the study. Tillage methods and related conditions are described in the article. Herbicides were used to protect against weeds. Sowing was carried out in the third decade of April at a soil temperature of +8–10 °C. The experiment considered 2 factors, namely the depth of sowing seeds and the size of the seed fraction. The results obtained were processed using measurement, mathematical and statistical methods of research, as well as calculation and comparison approaches.

Results and discussion. On average, depending on the factors studied, the height of the plants varied significantly, as a rule, the tallest plants were obtained from large seeds, which had the highest mass of 1000 seeds. Thus, in particular, on average over two years of research, the height of the plants was 250.4 cm when the weight of 1000 seeds was 255 g, and the seeds were wrapped by 4-5 cm; when the weight of 1000 seeds was 300 g, the height was 251.1 cm, while with the weight of 350 g it was 258.3 cm; with the wrapping depth of 7-8 cm the height was 252.1 cm, 255.8 and 268.5 cm, and with the wrapping depth of 10-11 cm it was 257.6 cm, 261.8 and 266.1 cm.

Conclusions. The use of the large seed fraction provided an increase in the yield of the DMS Sticker corn hybrid by 1.09–1.79 t ha⁻¹ compared to the use of the small seed fraction and was 8.70 t ha⁻¹. When using the large seed fraction and the wrapping depth of 10-11 cm, the cost of production was 56,550 UAH ha⁻¹. The cost price of 1 ton of production was the lowest and amounted to UAH 2,247.1, the conditional net profit was the highest - 37,000 UAH ha⁻¹, and the level of profitability was 189.3%.