Economic efficiency of seedling method when growing St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) under drip irrigation

One of the most popular medicinal plants is St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum L.). The main source of obtaining its raw materials is collecting in natural groups. Quite often, the amount of St. John’s wort collected does not satisfy the demand in the domestic market of the country, besides, there are cases that it does not contain a sufficient amount of biologically active substances. Research in recent years shows the high prospects of using medicines made on the basis of St. John’s wort as a powerful antiviral agent, especially in the treatment of COVID19. Therefore, industrial cultivation of this crop to increase the raw material base is relevant. Research on improving the technology of growing St. John’s wort was carried out during 2019–2020 at the Research Station of Medicinal Plants of the IAEM of the National Academy of Sciences. The purpose of the research was to determine the effect of plant planting density on the productivity of St. John’s wort under drip irrigation and perform calculations to determine the optimal plant planting density from an economic point of view. Studies have shown that with an increase in the density of planting plants, the yield of the crop also increased. The growth of the harvest of raw material — dry grass, correspondingly increased the costs of its production. The sum of all expenses in the first year of cultivation ranged from UAH 192757/ha — in the variant with a density of 42 thousand plants/ha, to UAH 277289/ha — in the variant with the highest studied St. John’s wort planting density — 167 thousand plants/ha. From an economic point of view, the most profitable in the first year is the cultivation of St. John’s wort with a planting density of 42–56 thousand plants/ha, a further increase in the planting density of plants reduces the profit, while the profit was UAH 79043–85404/ha, the cost of the raw materials received 63803–73747 UAH/t, with a production profitability of 41.0–41.1%. Analysis of the structure of costs for growing and primary processing of raw materials revealed the factors that most significantly affect the cost of the obtained products. When growing St. John’s wort, the most expensive item was the payment of labor, as in the production process, manual labor was used to care for the crops, maintain the irrigation system, dry the received raw materials, and other operations. Labor costs amounted to UAH 71550–77300/ha. In the second year of St. John’s wort vegetation, the cost of growing the crop decreased compared to the first year of vegetation, and the yield of dry raw materials increased, as a result, the economic indicators were significantly higher. The amount of costs was from UAH 152810 to UAH 160364/ha, depending on the density of planting. The profit was from 175690 to 196036 hryvnias/ha, the profitability of production was from 115.0 to 122.2%. The cost of one ton of dry raw materials ranged from UAH 40496 to UAH 41866. An essential item of expenses in the second year of growing St. John’s wort remains the payment of labor, with an increase in St. John’s wort productivity, it increased, in the version with a planting density of 42 thousand plants/ha with a crop yield of 3.5 t/ha of dry raw materials, it amounted to UAH 60950/ha. The highest labor costs of UAH 64955/ha were in the variant with a planting density of 83 thousand plants/ha, where the highest yield of dry raw materials was 3.96 t/ha. From an economic point of view, in the second year of vegetation, the most profitable is the cultivation of St. John’s wort with a density of 83 thousand plants/ha, for which the highest economic indicators were obtained. The high efficiency of the seedling method of growing St. John’s wort under drip irrigation conditions has been proven.