Iodine-containing preparations in grain growing technologies

The urgency of researching and solving the problem of open and masked iodine deficiency, which manifests itself through several diseases, is now global. Many studies and programmes have been initiated on alternative methods of introducing iodine into human nutrition, and one of them is biofortification of crops. Biofortification of crops through fertilisers and foliar iodine fertilisation provides the best bioavailability of water-soluble forms of iodine for plants. At the same time, the functional role of iodine as a plant nutrient is understudied. The purpose of this study was to establish and substantiate the effectiveness of iodine-containing preparations in grain crops cultivation technologies. To fulfil this purpose, field and laboratory studies were carried out. The field multifactorial experiment was conducted on podzolic chernozems in a stationary experiment of the Department of Plant Science of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine. Mathematical processing of the results was carried out using SAS 9.4 and Agrostat 6 software. The anti-stress effect of preparations with biologically active iodine under combined pre-sowing seed treatment and plant treatment during the growing season was identified – significant yield increments were obtained, even under conditions of severe air and soil drought during the growing season of grain crops. The application of background doses of fertiliser and the use of biologically active iodine products ensured a significant increase in yields. The average yield of winter wheat ranged from 2.96 to 6.46 t/ha; oats – from 2.79 to 5.41 t/ha, depending on the background of nutrition, disinfectant and preparations with biologically active iodine. Iodine-containing preparations are effective in the system of preventive protection during the treatment of seeds and plants during the growing season, which can substantially reduce the damage to wheat and oat plants by diseases. Treatment of crops during the growing season with iodine-containing preparations, especially in the late microstages, reduces the level of secondary disease infection and prevents infection of seeds that form on the mother plant and are subsequently the main source of pathogenic infection that develops after sowing seeds into the soil. The developed regulations will promote the use of iodine-containing preparations in crop cultivation technologies, which are particularly effective in regions with iodine deficiency in the environment