THE INFLUENCE OF FERTILISERS AND PRE-SOWING SEED TREATMENT ON THE YIELD OF INDUSTRIAL HEMP (CANNABIS SATIVA L.)

After a long-standing prohibition on cultivation, industrial hemp is being reintroduced to agriculture. Its importance is difficult to overestimate in the context of global ecological and economic trends in crop production. Considerable attention is paid to optimising the hemp fertilisation by using compound fertilisers and pre-sowing treatment of seeds with growth stimulants, which promotes early plant development especially under adverse growing conditions. A positive effect was established from the use of the following humic preparations Humifield, 1R Seed Treatment, Ultra Boost, and Zinovii grand for pre-sowing seed treatment and foliar application in combination with plant protection agents such as insecticides and fungicides. These treatments were applied against the background of high application rates of compound mineral fertilisers: Polifoska 8:24:24 9S at 165 kg/ha + UAN-32 at 300 kg/ha, and Ecoplant at 200 kg/ha + UAN-32 at 300 kg/ha. The application of humic preparations for pre-sowing treatment and in combination with foliar pesticides increased the seed yield by 0.14–0.21 t/ha and the straw yield by 0.45–0.53 t/ha. The use of Ultra Boost and Zinovii grand for foliar application enhanced the oil content in seeds by 0.5%. The growing conditions were found to have a significant influence on seed yield formation, under hot and dry conditions, seed yield decreased by 46%, whereas straw yield slightly increased from 4.77 t/ha in 2023 to 5.09 t/ha in 2024. In view of these findings, particular attention was paid to the nature of the correlations between the economically valuable characteristics of hemp, such as the duration of the the growing season, plant height, seed and straw yield, and oil content. The study found that correlation coefficients can vary significantly depending on the contrast of growing conditions. Thus, correlation behaviour can be used as a tool to select varieties for cultivation and develop adaptive cultivation technologies.