The impact of mineral fertilization on the economic and energy indicators of sweet pepper cultivation under drip irrigation in Southern Ukraine

The article is devoted to the impact of mineral fertilization on the economic and energy performance of sweet pepper cultivation under drip irrigation in southern Ukraine.The study examined the effect of three nutrient levels calculated based on the planned yield of sweet pepper: Rate 1 -for a yield of 35 t/ha (application rate N118P62), Rate 2 -for 45 t/ha (application rate N145P75), and Rate 3 -for 55 t/ha (application rate N163P84).The control variant (St) represented the natural soil fertility background without fertilizer application.A clear relationship was found between the level of mineral nutrition and the productivity of sweet pepper: yield increased from 35.3 t/ha in the control variant to 42.8 t/ha under the highest mineral background (Rate 3).In addition to higher yields, the costs of cultivation also increased -from 154.47 thousand UAH/ha in the unfertilized variant to 219.14 thousand UAH/ha under Rate 3.This affected the cost price of production, which increased from 4376 UAH/t (control) to 5120 UAH/t.The highest profit was obtained in the control variant -198,529 UAH/ha, which is attributed to the low level of expenses, although this variant did not provide the highest yield.The highest profitability level was also observed in the control -128.5%,indicating the efficiency of resource-saving technologies.At the same time, as the nutrient level increased, the profitability gradually decreased -from 108.2% (Rate 1) to 95.3% (Rate 3), due to a faster growth of costs compared to profit.Energy consumption per hectare increased from 14,663 MJ/ha in the control to 23,164 MJ/ha under Rate 3. At the same time, the amount of energy accumulated in the harvested crop also 401 MJ/ha (control) to 46,560 MJ/ha (Rate 3), indicating a higher overall energy potential of the crop under more intensive nutrition.However, the bioenergetic efficiency coefficient (Ke) showed a downward trend: the highest value (2.62) was recorded in the control, while under the maximum mineral background (Rate 3) it decreased to 2.01.The energy intensity of the product increased from 415.4 MJ/t (control) to 541.2 MJ/t (Rate 3), also indicating higher specific energy costs with more intensive fertilization.