Impact of biologized agrotechnology on brown mustard productivity and resource use efficiency

Abstract

The agricultural landscape of Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, is increasingly challenged by climatic variability and the imperative for resource-use optimization. To enhance the resilience and sustainability of crop production in this region, a two-year field study was conducted over the 2023–2024 growing seasons to evaluate the effects of three distinct cultivation technologies (Traditional, Biological, and Organic) and three seeding rates (2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 million seeds/ha) on the productive moisture content, nutrient dynamics, and yield of brown mustard (Brassica juncea). The results indicated a clear superiority of the biologized agrotechnological systems. The biological and organic technologies consistently maintained significantly higher productive soil moisture reserves throughout the growing season and demonstrated lower average daily water consumption. This translated into superior water-use efficiency, with lower water consumption coefficients (WCC) recorded for the biologized treatments. In addition to water efficiency, these systems exhibited superior nutrient-use efficiency. Regression modeling confirmed a strong relationship between agrotechnology and nitrate uptake (R2 = 0.72), with biological (24.5 kg/t) and organic (23.6 kg/t) systems requiring significantly less nitrate per ton of yield compared to the traditional approach (29.8 kg/t). The impact on phosphorus uptake was more nuanced (R2 = 0.39), with the organic system demonstrating the highest efficiency (60.8 kg/t), highlighting the role of longterm soil health in phosphorus cycling. Furthermore, the study confirmed a quadratic relationship between seeding rate and water consumption, underscoring a critical trade-off between plant density and water use. Ultimately, the resource-efficient biological and organic systems produced significantly higher yields, with top performances reaching 1.57 t/ha of mustard seeds. These findings underscore that biologized practices are not only viable but are superior for optimizing agricultural resources and enhancing crop productivity in semi-arid environments compared to traditional ones. The adoption of biological and organic cultivation technologies presents a clear pathway for building resilient, high-yield agricultural systems capable of withstanding climatic stresses and reducing dependency on external inputs.