Efficiency of Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra when applying for corn in the south of Ukraine

Corn is a crop demanding on nutritional conditions. It responds well to phosphorus-potassium and organic fertilizers. Of great importance in obtaining high yields of corn is the provision of plants with nutrients in the early period of life, which can be done by seed treatment and, subsequently, foliar treatment. Thus, a number of specialists in the field of agronomy have shown that such treatments when sowing superphosphate corn mixed with local fertilizers cause a significant increase in corn yield.

The purpose of our research was to reveal the effectiveness of organo-mineral humic fertilizers ( Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra ) in the treatment of seeds and leaf treatment of corn on chestnut and sandy soils in southern Ukraine. In addition to Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra , organo-mineral fertilizers from humus and superphosphate, peat, as well as granular superphosphate and ammonium sulfate were tested in the experiments. Experiments with hybrid corn were carried out on chestnut soils in the Kherson region. On sandy soils (Experimental Viticulture Station) a local variety (Sterling type) was sown. In all experiments, square-nested sowing (70X70 cm) was used. The size of the accounting plots is 100 m ² , the repetition is four times.

2 plants were left in the nest (40 thousand per hectare). Fertilizers, according to the scheme of experiments, were fertilized randomly for pre-sowing seed treatment. During the growing season, three treatments were carried out along and across the site, a breakthrough and two manual loosening. In the flowering phase, watering was carried out (500 m ^{3 of} water per hectare). The results of this experience for the harvest are given in table. one.

The table shows that the introduction of Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra is an effective method for increasing the yield of silage mass and corn grain on chestnut soils in southern Ukraine. It is more effective than the introduction of one granular (mineral) superphosphate. It is significant that seed treatment 1.5 liters. Mind Extra per 1 ton of seeds led to approximately the same increase in the yield of silage and grain, which gives the introduction of 3 tons of organic-mineral mixture of humus and superphosphate. These increases exceed the results obtained from the introduction of a mixture of granular superphosphate and ammonium sulfate for presowing cultivation, with which several times more forms of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds assimilable by plants were introduced.

Table 1

Influence of organo-mineral fertilizers on the yield of silage mass (in the period of milky-wax ripeness) and corn grain

Note. Accuracy (P) experience - 1.4%.

The data of the same table show that the dose of organo-mineral fertilizers for corn can be reduced if Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra are treated . Thus, the application of 3 tons of organo-mineral fertilizers for pre-sowing cultivation causes the same increase in the yield of corn grain (by 19.8 c/ha), as does the application of 1.5 liters per 1 ton. Seeds + 2 liters per 1 ha (3 times) Totem Agro Bio.

It should be noted that Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra have a more dramatic effect on the yield of cobs than masses in general.

In this experiment, fertilizers were applied separately from the seeds (into the nest on the side of the seeds). A more accessible technique is the joint pre-sowing treatment of microfertilizers with seeds. Therefore, a special experiment was set up in order to establish the possibility of such an application of organo-mineral humic fertilizers.

The results are given in table. 2 show that organo-mineral fertilizers (humus and superphosphate), when applied to nests together with seeds, have a positive effect on the yield of corn silage mass, which is similar to the effect during seed treatment. Granular superphosphate has a negative effect in this case.

table 2

Efficiency of Totem Agro.Bio in maize processing.

Influence of organo-mineral fertilizers when applied together with seeds on the yield of corn silage

The introduction of organo-mineral fertilizers for corn led not only to an increase in the yield of grain and silage, but also to a change in their quality. Thus, an analysis of corn grain showed that an increase in grain yield with a slight increase in protein content (from 11.6 to 111.9%) leads to a significant increase in protein yield per hectare: unfertilized - 8.1 c/ha, for organo-mineral fertilizers - 10.2 kg / ha.

Table 3

Influence of organo-mineral fertilizers on the quality of corn silage mass (in the phase of milky-wax ripeness of seeds)

Note. Starch was determined by the method of acid hydrolysis, sugar - according to Hagedorn-Jensen, nitrogen - according to Kjeldahl, phosphorus - according to Deniz (in the modification of Malyugin and Khrenova), a mixture of pigments - according to Getry, ascorbic acid - according to Murri.

From the data of analyzes of the silage mass (see Table 3), it can be seen that the application of organo-mineral fertilizers has a positive effect on its qualitative composition, which increases the collection per hectare of such valuable nutrients as protein, starch, soluble sugars, phosphorus and others. mineral elements (see Table 4). An increase in the content of these substances in the ensiled mass leads to an improvement in the conditions for ensiling.

Influence of Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra on the yield of carbohydrates, protein and minerals that are part of the corn silage mass

Table 4

The conclusion about the high efficiency of Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra when applied under corn on chestnut soils was confirmed by this experience.

Its yield results are shown in Table. 5.

Efficiency of sowing and foliar treatment of corn on chestnut soils

Table 5

As can be seen from the table, the introduction of Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra led to an increase in the yield of corn grain, exceeding the increase from 10 tons of humus, although with the latter, of course, significantly more mineral nutrition elements were introduced. The results of the experiment show the inexpediency of increasing the dose of humic fertilizers when they are applied under corn during the sowing period.

Phenological observations in this trial showed that the dropping of tassels in corn treated with Mind Extra started 11 days earlier than in control (unfertilized) plants. The flowering phase of male and female flowers took place in plants treated with these preparations.

Efficiency of Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra in corn processing

By reducing the gap between the flowering of male and female flowers, pollination is more complete.

In addition to experiments on chestnut soils, an experiment was also carried out on sandy soils in the south of Ukraine. A local cultivar of the Sterling type was sown. The standing density in this experiment was 30,000 plants per hectare. During the growing season, 6 loosening of row spacings and 2 irrigations were carried out (350 m ^{3 of} water per hectare).

The results of this experience are given in table. 6.

Table 6

Efficiency of Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra in conditions of pre-sowing treatment of corn on sandy soils

Note. Totem Agro . Bio  was applied in the amount of 2 l /ha (3 times), peat - 100 c/ha, N - in the form of ammonium sulfate (0.7 c/ha) , P - in the form of superphosphate (0.8 c/ha).

The data obtained indicate that on sandy soils, the treatment of Totem Agro.Bio  and Mind Extra is a more effective means of increasing the yield of corn than mineral ones. The significance of the degree of solubility of humic acids in organo-mineral fertilizers is also clear from the results of the experiment. So, if the introduction of an organo-mineral mixture (peat + superphosphate + ammonium sulfate) led to an increase in grain yield by 23.5%, then the introduction of Mind Extra gave an increase of 30.3%.

The data of the same experiment show the high efficiency of nitrogen-phosphate top dressing in seed treatment and foliar treatment.

Observations of the growth and accumulation of ground mass by corn plants showed (see Fig. 1 and 2) that the plants treated with Totem Agro.Bio were significantly higher than the control ones in the initial period of growth. Subsequently, despite the fact that their growth seemed to have stopped (in height), they were almost twice as large as the control plants in terms of mass.

And in this experiment, as can be seen from Table. 7 , fertilizers had a positive effect on the quality of corn silage.

Mind Extra and Totem Agro.Bio had the most dramatic impact on the quality of corn silage , which increased the yield of nutrients valuable for silage per hectare (see Table 8).

Rice. 1. Effect of Totem Agro.Bio on the growth of ground mass of corn.

Rice. 2. Effect of Mind Extra and Totem Agro.Bio on the accumulation of corn mass

Influence of Totem Agro.Bio and Mind Extra on the quality of corn silage mass (in the period of milky-wax ripeness) when grown on sandy soils

Table 7

Table 8

Influence of Mind Extra and Totem Agro.Bio minerals included  in the yield of carbohydrates, protein and corn silage mass

Table data . 8 show that even on sandy soils, when treated with Totem , the collection per hectare of valuable nutrients such as starch, invert sugars, protein and phosphorus is significantly increased.

CONCLUSIONS

Microfertilizers Mind Extra and Totem Agro.Bio are an effective means of increasing the yield of corn when growing it both for silage and for grain on chestnut and sandy soils in southern Ukraine.

The increase in yield from microfertilizers exceeds the increase obtained from the application of mineral fertilizers, although with the latter a larger amount of mineral plant nutrition elements in easily digestible forms is introduced.

1. When processing humic fertilizers, not only the corn yield increases, but also its quality changes, due to which the collection of protein and other valuable substances per hectare increases.

2. The use of these micronutrient fertilizers reduces the gap between the flowering of male and female flowers, which is of great importance for normal pollination.

3. The most rational way to use Mind Extra and Totem Agro.Bio is to apply them in small doses when processing corn seeds, as well as foliar processing in the field.