EFFECTS OF MINERAL FERTILIZERS ON WINTER GARLIC PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS AND PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Purpose. To improve elements of winter garlic cultivation technology in the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. The study was intended to locally apply mineral fertilizers at different doses and to assess their effect on the winter garlic yield. Methods. Field, statistical, computational, analytical, laboratory. Results. The study demonstrated that local application of mineral fertilizers influenced quantitative and qualitative characteristics and increased the yield of winter garlic cv. 'Prometei'. The largest vegetative mass of winter garlic was formed at mineral fertilizer doses of N10P10K40 and N13P40K13; in these experimental variants, plants were 38.6–38.0% taller than the control ones;  the leaf area increased by 110.7–115.2 cm2/plant. At mineral fertilizer doses of N30P10K10 and N20N20N20, the parameters were slightly lower; however, plants were 37.3 and 36.5% taller than in the control, respectively, and the leaf area increased by 40.5–42.7 cm2/plant. The application of fertilizers during the winter garlic cultivation helped to increase the yield. The best results were obtained with local fertilization at N10P10K40 and N13P40K13: 7.7–5.9 t/ha more was harvested than in the control. Mineral fertilizer doses of N30P10K10 and N20N20N20 raised the yield by 5.1 and 3.1 t/ha, respectively. Conclusions. Thus, in the study of the effects of different doses of mineral fertilizers on the winter garlic performance, it was shown that the largest vegetative mass was produced at N10P10K40 and N13P40K13: in these experimental variants, plants were 6.9 and 7.9 cm taller than control ones, respectively, and the assimilation surface increased by 110.7–115.2 cm2/plant. Positive changes were observed in the N30P10K10 and N20N20N20 experiments: plants were 5.7 and 4.3 cm taller, respectively, and the leaf area increased by 40.5–42.7 cm2/plant. The application of fertilizers during the winter garlic cultivation helped to increase the crop yield. The best results were recorded when mineral fertilizers were applied at doses of N10P10K40 and N13P40K13: the crop yield was 7.1 and 9.4 t/ha, respectively. The mineral fertilizer doses of N30P10K10 and N20N20N20 significantly increased the yield (by 5.8–4.6 t/ha).