THE USE OF MISCANTHUS SP. MULCH IN THE TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESS OF GRAPEVINE CULTIVATION

Evaluating the climatic factors within the limits of the sector, where the respective researches were carried out, their tendency to change, towards the creation of arid conditions, was found. The change of climatic factors imposes the need to review the cultivation technologies of agricultural plants. An element of the technological cultivation process was used mulch from plant residues, Miscanthus sp. The experiment was carried out with the laying of mulch with a layer thickness of about 5 cm, the width of the strip about 50 cm and the length in a row of 15 meters. In order to measure the parameters, sensors were fixed in the soil, which determine, in the layer of 10-15 cm: the temperature in the soil, the temperature at the surface of the soil, the humidity of the soil, the electrical conductivity of the soil, as well as the amount of sunlight that falls on the surface of the soil. The respective sensors were placed both in the mulched and non-mulched area. At the time of initiation of the experiment, the soil moisture in the layer of 10-15 cm from the surface was about 20.48%. After covering the soil with mulch throughout the vegetation period, it was found that the soil moisture, in the case with mulch, is practically twice as high as in the case without mulch. The layer of mulch from plant residues contributes to: maintaining moisture in the soil, regulating the thermal regime of the soil, preventing erosion processes, stopping the development of weeds, enriching the soil with mineral nutrients, etc. Also, the use of mulch contributes to reducing the financial and human resources for maintaining plantations by about 25%. The productivity of the plants was about 25.5–29.5% compared to the control, the amount of sugars is about 2-3% higher compared to the case without mulch.