Abstract:
The limiting factors for the popularization of Sarepta mustard in Ukraine are the lack of developed and ecologically
adapted zonal technologies for its cultivation, certain dogmatism and stereotypes of the majority of agricultural producers regarding the economic feasibility of introducing Sarepta mustard in crop rotations, as well as bias regarding
the effectiveness of biologic elements in the production technologies of plant raw materials. A field experiment was
conducted to improve the technology of growing Sarepta mustard. The experiment scheme included the following
factors and their variants: Factor A (culture cultivation technology) was represented by variants of the traditional
zonal mustard cultivation technology; biologized technology (rejection of mineral fertilizers and their replacement
with organic preparations) and organic (replacement of mineral fertilizers and synthetic pesticides with organic
preparations). Factor B represented different rates of crop sowing (from 2.0 to 3.0 million pieces of similar seeds per
1 ha with an interval of 0.5 million). The Prima mustard variety was sown in the experiment. Plots in the experiment
were placed using the method of split plots with partial randomization. An increase in the crop sowing rate from
2.0 to 3.0 million units/ha leads to a deterioration in the value of most biometric indicators (plant height, leafiness)
and all indicators of the crop structure. However, taking into account the discrete nature of the real number of plants
preserved in the agrocenosis at the time of the study, the values of such indicators as the area of the assimilation
apparatus and the leaf index, as well as the yield of conditioned seeds of the culture, had a curvilinear relationship:
with an increase in the sowing rate from 2.0 to 2.5 million pcs./ha grew, and subsequently decreased. The norm of
2.5 million seeds per hectare is recognized as the most optimal seeding rate for all variants of cultivation technology.
Also, the study noted a significant advantage of the biological and organic technology of Sarepta mustard cultivation
over the traditional intensive one in terms of both biometric and structural indicators, as well as the level of yield of
conditioned seeds and its quality indicators, first of all, the content of raw fat in the seeds.
