SILICON-CONTAINING FERTILIZERS IN AN ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY OF GROWING PUMPKIN CULTIVAR ‘NOVYNKA’

The Study Purpose was to investigate the effects of silicon-containing fertilizers on the plant growth and development as well as on the performance and fruit quality in nutmeg pumpkin cv. ‘Novynka’ grown by adaptive technology. Methods: field - monitoring of the plant growth and development, agro-meteorological conditions of the environment and other biological and phenological factors; laboratory - determination of quality parameters of seeds and yield; mathematical and statistical - ANOVA and statistical processing of data in order to evaluate the significance of differences, assessments of the economic and bioenergetic efficiency of the cultivation technology. Results. The adaptive and basic technologies for growing nutmeg pumpkin cv. ‘Novynka’ were compared. The effects of root-applied silicon fertilizers on the growth and development of pumpkin plants as well as on the yield and product quality were studied. Conclusions. Based on the results, we concluded that the root application of silicon-containing fertilizers with the underlying recommended dose of mineral fertilizers increased the contents of available mineral nutrients in the soil and significantly improved the conditions for the growth and development of gourd plants, which was confirmed by enlarged leaf surface and enhanced performance of pumpkin plants compared to the recommended fertilization regimen. The root (in-sowing) application of granulated silicon fertilizer on gourds with the underlying recommended dose of mineral fertilizers significantly increased the pumpkin yield by 0.8 t/ha compared to the recommended fertilization regimen. The highest yield from gourds was harvested when the adaptive cultivation technology, which, in addition to the recommended mineral fertilization regimen, included silicon-containing fertilizers for seed priming, in-sowing application and foliar fertilization, was used.