Yield formation of Chinese mustard varieties depending on seeding rate in the forest-steppe of the Middle Volga region

Recently, mustard has become increasingly relevant and of general interest, as it is a universal multi-purpose crop. To realize the biological potential of new mustard varieties under certain conditions, it is necessary to improve the cultivation technology. Experimental work on the study of new mustard varieties and optimization of the seeding rate was carried out in 2022-2023 on the meadow-chernozem soil of the collection site of the Penza State Agrarian University. On average, over two years, field germination decreased from 81.0% at a seeding rate of 1.0 million of viable seeds per 1 ha to 78.7% at a higher rate (3.0 million of viable seeds per 1 ha), the survival of plants was 73.0 and 62.5%, or 64.6 and 132.8 plants per 1 m2, respectively. The optimal number of plants: 101.9–120.3 per 1 m2 is in crops with seeding rates of 2.0 and 2.5 million of seeds per 1 m2. In the Pervotarovskaya variety, their density was 94.0–115.3 per 1 m2, in Valenta 98–112.8 per 1 m2 with the number of branches on the plant of 3.9–3.7 and 4.3–3.9 pcs., respectively. Each plant formed 45.5–50.4 pods, which contained 14.3–16.0 large and full seeds. The weight of 1000 pieces reached 3.64 and 3.36 g, respectively. The varieties Pervotarovskaya (2.33 t/ha) and Valenta (2.25 t/ha) had the maximum biological potential for the conditions of the Middle Volga region with a seeding rate of 2.5 million of viable seeds per 1 ha.