Possibilities of Intensification of Spring Wheat Growing Technology in the Western Siberia Forest-Steppe

Abstract

Based on the results of many years of field experience, an agronomic and economic assessment of the effects of the use of chemicals for spring wheat is given in order to determine the attractiveness for farmers of the transition to growing crops using intensive technology. For the analysis, the prices of chemicals and spring wheat grain that are currently relevant for the Siberian region were taken. It is shown that under the influence of a complex of chemicalization agents (fertilizers, herbicides, fungicide), the average annual yield of wheat in a 4-full grain-pair crop rotation increased 1.8 times, reaching 3.8 tons of grain/ha. The increase in yield by 13% was due to the use of herbicides, 18% – fungicides and 69% – mineral fertilizers with a payback of 1 kg active substance 12.4 kg of grain. When calculating the average per year, the means of chemicalization provided income already at the minimum (from the accepted for analysis) grain price of 10 000 rubles/t. Income increased sharply in a number of field experience options: herbicides, herbicides + fertilizers, herbicides + fertilizers + fungicide. However, when assessing the annual effects, income from chemicals in this series was obtained, respectively, only in 42, 75 and 92% of the years. The probability of losses decreased significantly with an increase in the price of grain. But even at prices of 13.000 and 16.000 rubles/ton, the use of the entire complex of chemicals was unprofitable in 8% of the years due to the severe aridity of the growing season. At current prices for fertilizers and pesticides, the minimum sufficient price of grain can be considered 13.000 rubles/ton, which, however, does not exclude losses in severely dry years.