Research at the Department of Biology and Agronomy

8.7.2019

The Department of Biology and Agronomy is actively continuing research on the topic: “Optimization of Sunflower Cultivation Methods in the Conditions of the Luhansk Region.”

When a large part of the university staff rests, scientific personnel go on vacation, and students go on holidays, the most important time begins at the Department of Biology and Agronomy. It is during these months that the main phases of plant growth and development proceed most intensively. Observing the growth of plants, the development of their root system and the growth of the leaf surface during this period allows to fully and efficiently assess the effectiveness of the experiments, thereby providing scientifically based recommendations for making changes to existing technologies for growing crops.

At the experimental sites of the Department of Biology and Agronomy of the State Institute “Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University”, postgraduate student Vitalii Stepanov under the guidance of Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, professors of the Department Serhii Masliiov conduct experiments on the topic “Optimization of Sunflower Cultivation Methods in the Conditions of Luhansk Region”. These experiments take place during 2018 – 2019 and plan to continue in the future.

All variants of experiments are developed in accordance with generally accepted recommendations for conducting field surveys, and are compared with sunflower crops grown according to the classical technology adopted for our agroclimatic zone. Observation of plants is carried out from sowing to harvesting with a frequency of 7-10 days.

The main directions are: the search for the optimal area of ​​nutrition of sunflower by changing the density of standing plants per 1 ha. On one of the options, the width of the rows was changed from the standard 70 cm to 35 cm. On the other, the number of plants per linear meter was changed from 3-4 standard to 5-6 subjects.

Another direction is the effectiveness of various methods of weed control, mechanical removal and use of the herbicides “Trophy” and “Oscar”. Also, the directions are being developed to combat the malicious parasite weed of a top sunflower, and the use of new types of microfertilizers “AktiBION” compared to the conventional fertilizer “Diammofoska”.

All experiments are conducted on hybrids and varieties zoned for the Luhansk region. The results obtained in the process of research are discussed at the Department and covered in scientific journals.

According to the Faculty of Natural Sciences