Assessment of the principles of biologization and ecologization of potato cultivation in the field experience of the Center for Precision Agriculture

Relevance. The article substantiates the need and expediency of taking into account elements of biologization and ecologization of individual elements of potato cultivation technology in the field experience of the Center for Precision Agriculture. Since the experiment was conducted in a large metropolis, an important component of the technological process is the use of mustard as an organic fertilizer for green manure, embedded under potatoes. Methodology. The research was conducted within the framework of grain-row crop rotation of the field experiment of the Center for Precision Agriculture of the Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. The work presents data on the potato crop. Potatoes were grown using two technologies (traditional and precision), two soil treatments (moldboard and minimum) and two variants of fertilizers for the preceding winter wheat (without additional fertilizing and with two additional fertilizing during the growing season). The potato yield was determined by the direct combining method, mustard for green manure by weighing the above-ground mass from the accounting area, plant deviation on the ridge and area loss by the calculation method. Results. The best result in terms of potato yield was obtained in the case of its cultivation using precision technology with the use of a moldboard reversible plough, better quality of green manure mustard, with the use of two additional fertilizing during the vegetation period of the preceding winter wheat. The method of moving agricultural machinery on autopilot showed itself quite well both in conditions of minimum and moldboard tillage; the method of moving on a marker showed the worst result in the same conditions, leading to a loss of area on a 100-hectare field of almost 1 ha. In addition to reducing the efficiency of using the useful area of the fields, deviations during the passage of units using a marker led to a shift in rows relative to the ridges, which also significantly reduced the yield and marketability of potatoes. Conclusion. The highest potato yield was obtained with precision technology using moldboard tillage in the variant of double fertilization of preceding winter wheat. The same variants showed an excess of the aboveground mass of green manure mustard. The use of the autopilot showed high accuracy of plant placement in a row and reduced losses of useful area in variants with minimum and moldboard tillage.