APPLICATION OF THE OPERATIONAL METHOD OF DETERMINING THE TYPE AND QUANTITY OF WOOD HARVESTING MACHINES IN THE CONDITIONS OF SE «FORESTS OF UKRAINE»

The purpose of research: to determine the influence of different methods of sowing on the formation of seed yield and the efficiency of sunflower cultivation in the soil and climatic conditions of Western Ukraine.Methods. Field research was conducted in the soil and climatic conditions of Western Ukraine. The experimental field was characterized by sod deep clayey sandy soils.Two methods of sunflower sowing were studied: traditional with a row spacing of 70 cm using a «Gaspardo Renata R MTR 8» precision seeding vacuum planter and narrow-row sowing with a row spacing of 12.5 cm – the «Gaspardo Corona 600» seeding complex. During the research, the structural elements of sunflower seed productivity and the efficiency of two methods of sowing were estimated.Results: According to the research results it was established that in the variant with traditional sowing the average number of seeds in the basket was greater. The same trend was also observed concerning basket size, seed weight, and productivity of one plant, which made it possible to form a sunflower seed yield of 1.67 t/ha, which is 0.14 t/ha (by 9.1%) more than in the plot with narrow-row sowing.Direct operational use of technical means for performing technological operations of soil preparation, fertilizer application, and seed sowing in traditional sowing amounts to UAH 2,541/ha and is higher by UAH 667/ha compared to costs in the narrow-row variant. However, due to the higher yield in the version of traditional sowing, a higher income from the sale of seed was obtained by 1890 hryvnias/ha. Therefore, the effectiveness of the applied technical and technological solutions on the plot with traditional sowing amounted to 1223 hryvnias/ha.Conclusions. The «Gaspardo Corona 600» sowing complex can perform narrow-row sowing of sunflower seeds with the specified sowing rate in the conditions of Western Ukraine. Although a slightly lower yield was obtained in the variant with narrow-row sowing, direct operating costs for pre-sowing soil cultivation and sowing are lower than for technical and technological solutions for implementing traditional wide-row sowing.The results of using the «Gaspardo Corona 600» sowing complex for sunflower sowing can be useful for farmers when deciding to buy a row drill and save the financial resources of farms.Keywords: sunflower, methods of sowing seeds, row seeder, sowing complex, productivity, efficiency.