Despite the significant reserves of available moisture in the soil in the Syvash region, not all fields used them to the full extent to obtain timely and friendly winter seedlings. Many farmers have made mistakes in using the accumulated moisture.

Mykola Ostapenko, a senior researcher at the Genic Experimental Station of the GU IK NAAS of Ukraine, spoke about this in The Ukrainian Farmer magazine.

From the third decade of May and the summer of 2021, 210 mm of precipitation fell on the fields of the Sivash region, with an average annual rate of 123 mm. This contributed to an abnormally large accumulation of productive moisture in a meter-long soil layer at the time of sowing winter grain crops and the autumn vegetation period.

Analyzing the progress of soil preparation in the pre-sowing period, the scientist pointed out miscalculations that led to significant losses of moisture from the topsoil (0-10 cm).

The first violation of agrotechnical requirements occurred due to a large delay in tillage in the post-harvest period. This caused, against the background of sufficient moisture, the active growth of weeds and carrion of the predecessor and led to the loss of moisture and nutrients from the soil.

“Agricultural producers in such fields were forced to cultivate the soil to a depth of at least 8-10 cm, contributing to the active aeration of the seed layer of the soil - thus, the second mistake was made, which led to inevitable losses of moisture and did not allow the timely receipt of a full-fledged ladder,” explained the scientist.

Recall that the period of overwintering of winter grains in the Syvash region is reduced.

AgroTimes