Evaluation of the Efficacy of the Use of Humic Fertilizers in the Cultivation of Spring Barley in the Soil and Climatic Conditions of the Central Chernozem Region

Abstract

The effect of humic fertilizers of domestic (ECO-SP) and foreign (Fulvigrain Classic, Gumiful Pro) production on the yield and quality of spring barley grain of the Prometheus variety was studied. The cultivation was performed as follows. Without treatment with humic fertilizers (control); ECO-SP: seed treatment (0.5 L/t) + treatment of plants in the tillering phase (0.5 L/ha) + treatment of plants in the stem elongation phase (0.5 L/ha); Fulvigrain Classic: seed treatment (0.8 L/t) + treatment of plants in the tillering phase (0.4 L/ha) + treatment of plants in the stem elongation phase (0.4 L/ha); Humiful Pro: seed treatment (0.1 L/t) + processing of plants in the tillering phase (0.1 L/ha) + processing of plants in the stem elongation phase (0.1 L/ha). The work was carried out in 2020–2022 in the Kursk Federal Agrarian Scientific Center (Kursk oblast, Kursk district, Cheryomushki village). The soil of the experimental site is a typical powerful, heavy-loamy chernozem. The treatment of spring barley seeds with humic fertilizers was found to increase their germination energy by 2–7%, and laboratory germination by 3–5% if compared with the seeds untreated with humic fertilizers. When processing seeds and plants with humic fertilizers, the yield of spring barley increased by 0.46–0.56 t/ha or by 12.7–15.5%, the grain size, by 0.7–1.6%, the protein content, by 0.2–0.4%, and the starch, by 0.4–0.9%. Higher yields of spring barley were provided by ECO-SP and Fulvigrain Classic humic fertilizers, 0.52.and 0.56 t/ha respectively. The efficacy of Humiful Pro humic fertilizer was lower: the yield increase was 0.46 t/ha or 12.7%, the grain size increased by 0.7%, the protein content, by 0.6%, and the starch, by 0.3% if compared with the control.