Evaluation of barley plants growth and development at the beginning of tillering phenophase at different sowing dates

Abstract

Global climate change, which has also occurred in the Western ForestSteppe of Ukraine, has led to early sowing starting from the very beginning of the spring season. In this regard, to provide a scientific basis for spring barley cultivation technology, the issue of investigating the processes of plant growth and development before the onset of the tillering phenomenon, i.e., the second and third stages of organogenesis, is of particular relevance. The purpose of this study was to establish the regularities of dependence of spring barley plant growth and development on the influence of vegetation factors at different sowing dates in the Western Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. To summarise the findings, the following methods were employed: general scientific methods based on objectivity, evidence, reproduction, and mathematical and statistical methods for processing experimental data. The study found the dependence of the processes of growth and development of spring barley plants based on plant biomass, crude biomass, and dry matter content of the root system and aerial parts of plants, as well as leaf area according to the analysis at the beginning of the tillering phase, on the influence of sowing time. The study estimated the significance of the studied factor under the influence of supply conditions for the maximum realisation of spring barley productivity potential. As a result, a regularity was revealed, according to which a substantial decrease in the productivity potential of barley plants was established with a delay for each subsequent 10 days starting from the first sowing date on 10 March. The maximum data values were obtained at the first sowing date, where the plant biomass was 723.6 mg, the crude biomass of the root system was 67.5 mg, the dry matter of the root system was 18.0 mg, the crude biomass of the aerial part of the plant was 656.1 mg, the dry matter of the aerial part of the plant was 130.8 mg and the leaf surface area was 18.1 cm2 . As a result of the scientific substantiation, the practical value of the study lies in the favourability of early sowing dates to ensure maximum realisation of plant productivity potential due to vegetation factors