Productivity of white and brown mustard (Brassica juncea) depending on the sowing period and seeding rate

Abstract

The formation of high productivity of any agricultural crop largely depends on the sowing period and the seeding rate. It is generally accepted that mustard is less demanding as to the sowing period. However, the moist topsoil is more favorable for better development of the root system in an early sowing period, respectively, such crops will be easier to tolerate spring-summer drought. Mustard reacts very strongly to the seeding rate and, accordingly, to the nutritional area for plants, which is caused by its biological characteristics. So, for example, very dense and, on the contrary, rare crops will be unproductive. Based on this, field experiments to study the effect of sowing terms and seeding rates on the yield of aboveground mustard biomass were laid in 2017-2019 in the experimental fields of the Udmurt Scientific Research Institute of RAS UdmFRC UB. The author studied the formed productivity of white mustard (Sinapis alba L.) - the Raduga variety, brown mustard (Brassica juncea L.) - the Nika variety, depending on the sowing period - 1 (control), 2, 3 decades of May and the seeding rate - 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 (control), 3.5 and 4.0 million germinating seeds/ha. The study found that in the considered years, mustard seedlings got enough moisture with sufficient precipitation in May-June, as a result of which the sowing period of mustard did not significantly affect its yield. So, on average for the three studied years, the нушв of white mustard was 15.32-15.52 t/ha, brown mustard - 12.88-13.96 t/ha. The highest yield of both types of mustard was formed at a seeding rate of 3.0-4.0 million germinating seeds/ha, for white mustard -15.64-17.11 t/ha, brown mustard - 13.66-14.85 t/ha.