AGROTECHNICAL PRACTICES TO INCREASE SOYBEAN YIELDS IN THE FOREST-STEPPE ZONE OF THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH OSSETIA–ALANIA

The purpose of the study was to determine the optimal sowing rates of soybean varieties and their effects on biometric parameters, yield structure and yield. The tasks were to determine the optimal sowing rates of soybean varieties of different maturity and their influence on productivity. The studies were carried out in 2021-2023 in the foothill zone of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, which is characterized as a forest-steppe with unstable moisture. The soil of the experimental plot is leached chernozem, the arable layer of which has a humus content of 5.2-6.3 %. The soybean varieties "Kioto", "Korsak", "Opus" – selection of the V.S. Pustovoit All-Russian Research Institute of Oil crops, Krasnodar and the variety "Iriston" of the local selection of the LLC Research Institute "IrAgro" (OOO) were the object of research. The maximum yield of green mass of 4.20 t/ha was achieved at a sowing rate of 700 thousand/ha at the tillering stage. In the varieties studied, the yield at a rate of 700 thousand/ha compared to a rate of 500 thousand/ha was 0.46 t/ha higher for the Iriston variety, 0.18 t/ha higher for Kioto, – 0.49 t/ha higher for Korsak and – 0.63 t/ha higher for Opus.