INFLUENCE OF MAIN SOIL TILLAGE METHODS ON THE DYNAMICS OF SUGAR BEET ROOT WEIGHT GROWTH AND SUGAR ACCUMULATION IN THEM

The article highlights the results of studies on the influence of the main tillage methods, which are common in the area of insufficient moisture of the Left-Bank Forest-Steppe, on the intensity of the increase in the mass of sugar beet roots, their tops, as well as on the process of sugar accumulation. Such studies were conducted in grain-rowing and grain-steam-rowing crop rotations, where the most common methods of main tillage were used. As a result of the research, it was found that in the grain-sowing crop rotation, the mass of 100 sprouts, on average over three years of research, was the largest in the variant with plowing to a depth of 30–32 cm and amounted to 41.8 g, which is 7.6 g more than in plowing with a depth of up to 40 cm and 3.0 g more than in the variant with tiered plowing. In the grain-sowing crop rotation, the best conditions for the initial development of beet plants were created in the case of surface tillage of the soil by 10–12 cm with its loosening to 40 cm. The most intensive increase in the mass of root crops was observed in both crop rotations in the variants with plowing at 30–32 cm – 3.7 and 4.4 g per day, respectively. In the grain-steam-till crop rotation, the increase in the mass of root crops in the second half of the growing season occurs more intensively than in the grain-steam-till. In August-September, in the variant with plowing at a depth of 30–32 cm in the grain-steam-till crop rotation, the mass of root crops increased by 262 g, in the grain-steam-till crop rotation – by 221 g. The sugar content of root crops, on average over three years of research, was maximum in the grain-steam-till crop rotation in the variant with flat-cut soil cultivation at 30–32 cm and amounted to 18.7 %. Almost the same (18.6 %) sugar content in root crops was found in the variant with conventional plowing to a depth of 30–32 cm and somewhat lower (18.1 %) – in the variant with surface cultivation to a depth of 10–12 cm with loosening at 40 cm. In the grain-steam crop rotation, the sugar content of root crops was significantly inferior to the corresponding indicator of the grain-steam-till crop rotation. However, in the variant with plowing to a depth of 30 cm with deepening to 40 cm, beetroots with a sugar content of 18.5 % were obtained.