Effectiveness of plant growth stimulants for winter wheat in the Left-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of plant growth stimulants on yield and grain quality indicators of winter wheat grown on dark grey podzolic soil developed from loess-like loam. The research assessed the impact of seed treatment with the BioZern fertiliser for stimulating the growth and development of cereal crops, the Medax Top growth regulator, the Turbo micronutrient fertiliser, and MgSO4 in winter wheat cultivation under the conditions of Kyiv Region, at Biotech LTD. Seed treatment with BioZern in combination with Medax Top + Turbo + MgSO4 resulted in a yield of 9.0 t/ha compared to 6.8 t/ha in the control. The application of plant growth stimulants (PGS) and micronutrients increased yield by 1.34-2.2 t/ha. The use of PGS in combination with MgSO4 improved plant growth and development indicators, with an 8-10% increase in plant density, over a 20% rise in the number of productive stems per unit area, and a corresponding increase in the tillering coefficient. The application of PGS also significantly enhanced key indicators of wheat ear productivity. The number of spikelets, grains per spike, grain weight per spike, and total grain mass per spike increased in the studied crop. Growth ranged from 25% to 50% compared to the control. A key practical outcome of the study was the improvement of most indicators characterising product quality. In addition to an increase in the 1,000-grain weight, the test weight rose from 737 g/L in the control to 763-766 g/L in treatments with PGS. While vitreousness remained consistent across all treatments, PGS slightly reduced the grain protein content from 15.6% in the control to 14.0-14.2% in treated variants. The results confirm the high effectiveness of winter wheat seed treatment with the BioZern preparation, the application of the Medax Top growth regulator, the Turbo micronutrient fertiliser, and MgSO4 under the conditions of Kyiv Region. These findings can be recommended for winter wheat cultivation