Influence of seeding rate on the formation of productivity and quality of winter wheat seeds

Yield amount of winter wheat is determined by a set of productivity elements that vary both under the influence of soil and climatic conditions during the growing season and the elements of cultivation technology. The elements of yield structure most fully reflect the influence of plant growing conditions in the process of their growth and development. The study of seeding rates in the conditions of the RightBank Forest-Steppe was carried out with the NS-30 variety sown after winter rape. It was found that an increase in seeding rate from 3.0–4.5 to 4.5–5.5 million seeds/ha provided a significant increase in the number of productive stems – by 71 pcs/m2 . At the same time, the ear length, the number of grains in the ear and the weight of 1000 seeds were significantly higher at the sowing rate of 4.2 million pcs/ha than at the rate of 5.0 million pcs/ha. Field germination of seeds on average for three years was almost the same at both seeding rates and amounted to 89.3 % at the rate of 5.0 million pcs/ha and 87.9 % at the rate of 4.2 million pcs/ha respectively. A similar dependence was observed over the years of research. Only in 2022, field germination was significantly higher by 4.8 % at a sowing rate of 5.0 million seeds/ha, compared to a sowing rate of 4.2 million seeds/ha. An increase in the productive stem stand at a seeding rate of 5.0 million seeds/ha ensured a 0.15 t/ha higher seed yield compared to a sowing rate of 4.2 million seeds/ha. The maximum seed yield at both sowing rates was obtained in 2022, which at the sowing rate of 5.0 million pcs/ha was 6.30 t/ha, and at the rate of 4.2 million pcs/ha – 6.19 t/ha. Thus, it has been studied that winter wheat productivity rises with the increase in the seeding rate of its seeds. Sowing qualities of seeds were high on average over the three years of research. Thus, the germination energy was 96.5 % and the seed germination rate was 97.5 %. No relevant difference in seed quality was found depending on seeding rates. Key words: winter wheat, productivity, seed quality, seeding rate, field germination.