Optimization of sowing time for grain sorghum and millet

Abstract

Currently, in the Lugansk region, the areas of millet and sorghum cultivation make up no more than 4.3% of the total sown area of spring grain crops. The relevance and feasibility of conducting research is dictated by noticeable changes in the climate of the territory in the direction of warming and increase its aridity. This made it necessary to study the earliest April sowing dates for the productivity of mid-early and mid-ripening hybrids of grain sorghum, which had not matured before in this territory. As a result of 5-year field experiments with grain sorghum, it was found that it is most profitable and advisable to sow crops (mid-early hybrid Dash E) not on May 15 at a generally accepted date, but earlier on April 25. This contributes to a longer vegetation period of sorghum ( up to 110 days), an increase in the number of grains (by 360 pieces or 23.6%) and grain weight (by 8.8 g or 22.5%) in the panicle and some decrease in grain moisture during harvesting harvest (2.6%). At the same time, a reliable increase in yield was also obtained - on average by 0.50 t / ha (8.6%) in comparison with the sowing period generally accepted in production (May 15). Conducting 3-year (2016- 2018) field investigation during the cultivation of millet showed out that this crop has a high degree of plasticity by the timing of sowing. For all 6 sowing periods (from April 15 to June 5), almost the same yield was obtained (within 2.27-2.46 t / ha). At the same time, earlier (April 15) sowing dates had some advantage. The late June sowing dates enable millet crops to efficiently use the July rainfall in the most critical phases of crop development to shape the future crop