Energy efficiency of sweet corn cultivation at drip irrigation in dependence on depth of plowing, fertilization and plants density

Abstract

Modern cultivation technologies should provide resource and energy saving. There is an evident tendency to energy and climate smart agriculture strengthening because of the necessity of natural and energy resource saving. However, very little attention is paid to the questions of scientific substantiation of energy-saving in agriculture at the expense of crops cultivation technologies optimization. Therefore, we consider the subject of energy expenditures optimization at sweet corn production an actual one for modern Ukrainian and international agrarian science, especially because there is a lack of information in modern literature on this question. We studied different options of tillage depth, fertilization and plants density within for sweet corn grown in the drip-irrigated conditions of the semi-arid zone of the South of Ukraine. The study was performed during 2014–2016 in four replications, and provided for the following factors: plowing depth (20–22, 28–30 cm), fertilization doses (no fertilizers, NP 60 and NP 120 kg/ha of active substance applied), plants density (35, 50, 65, 80 thousands of plants/ha). The results of the study proved significant difference in the crop productivity and energy efficiency of the agrotechnology due to the changes in the studied parameters. The best productivity of 10.93 t/ha of marketable ears combined with the highest energy efficiency of the crop cultivation with the coefficient of energy efficiency of 2.44 were provided by the complex with plowing at the depth of 20–22 cm, fertilization dose of NP 120 kg/ha of active substance, 65 thousands of plants/ha.