Water consumption of spring and winter wheat on chernozem soils of the Volgograd region

¹ Federal Scientific Centre of Agroecology Complex Meliorations and Protective Afforestation Russian Academy of Sciences, 97, University Avenue, Volgograd, 400062, Russia
² Volgograd State Agrarian University, 26, University Avenue, Volgograd, 400002, Russia

^* Corresponding author: Corresponding author: aksenovmp@mail.ru

Abstract

Scientific and practical research was carried out with the aim of establishing new approaches to the cultivation of durum varieties of spring wheat and winter wheat, the main task when starting the experiments was to obtain a wheat yield at the existing level, while offering alternatives to the classic mineral nutrition, which allows not only to obtain the planned harvest wheat but preserve the natural fertility of the soil. No less important is the fact that the experiment was carried out in a risky farming area. In this regard, it is necessary to know how the water consumption of winter and spring durum wheat develops. We used pre-sowing treatment of seed material with modern biofertilizers. But the root mass of durum wheat has a distinctive feature from the root mass of soft wheat. The root mass of durum wheat contains mycorrhiza, which interacts better with soil microflora. Together with biofertilizers, a more favorable water regime is created, which has a positive effect on yields. Along with zoned varieties, modern wheat varieties with higher plasticity and adaptability to arid conditions were studied. The experiment was carried out in 2020…2023. in the Volgograd region, on the peasant farm “Eliseev A.N” in the Mikhailovsky district, located in the southern black soil zone. The objects of testing in the experiment were varieties of durum spring wheat: Donskaya Elegiya, Krasnokutka 13 and winter durum wheat: Agat Donskoy and Aksinit with pre-sowing treatment with biofertilizers. The experiment showed that the lowest water consumption indicators were in the variants without seed treatment and they varied between varieties from 259.5 mm (Krasnokutka 13 variety) to 521.0 mm (Aksinit variety). The maximum values were observed in the variant with seed treatment with biofertilizer Gumi 20 and they amounted to 263.2 mm for the Krasnokutka 13 variety, and 265.7 mm for the Aksinit variety, respectively.