The influence of technological cultivation methods on weed infestation of corn crops for grain in the conditions of the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

The study presents the results of scientific and experimental work carried out in 2022–2024 at the research sites of Vinnytsia National Agrarian University in the conditions of the educational and research farm «Agronomiche» within the framework of the implementation of the main tasks of the applied research «Development of scientific and technological support for increasing soil fertility and rational use of the potential of bioresources». The purpose of the work was to determine the options for using different groups of Lipaktiv on the effectiveness of soil and insurance herbicides in comparison with Liposam in corn crops for grain under different moistening options. This approach provides a comprehensive understanding of the role of hydrothermal factors in the implementation of the action of herbicides and allows you to adjust technological techniques to achieve maximum efficiency of crop protection from weeds. The conducted field experiments made it possible to assess how natural and additional moistening (+100 mm) affects the number of weeds at different stages of crop vegetation. The results showed that in the early stages of plant development, 30 days after herbicide application, the degree of moisture significantly affected the level of weediness. With natural moisture, the average number of weeds on the control variants without Liposam was 19±3 pcs./m², while additional moisture contributed to an increase in the number to 26±5 pcs./m². The use of Liposam Ultra at a rate of 0.5 l/ha reduced the number of weeds with natural moisture to 17±2 pcs./m², and the combination of the herbicide with additional moisture provided the lowest level of weediness – 14±3 pcs./m². The insignificant difference between the variants with natural and increased moisture (no more than 3 pcs./m²) indicates the stability of the action of the herbicide mixture in different hydrothermal conditions. By the end of the growing season, the effect of the degree of moisture and Liposam application on the number of weeds was not observed, which indicates the leveling of the effectiveness of herbicide protection throughout the entire period of corn growth. The data obtained confirm the effectiveness of using the soil herbicide Guardian Tetra in a mixture with Liposam Ultra for reliable weed control regardless of the level of soil moisture and recommend the use of the tank mixture as a component of an integrated corn protection system under conditions of different hydrothermal regimes.