IMPROVING THE YIELD AND QUALITY OF WINTER WHEAT DURING AUTUMN HERBICIDE CULTIVATION

The main condition for growing winter wheat is the observance of proper agricultural techniques and the creation of conditions for high agricultural culture. Improving the technology in modern conditions of grain production requires knowledge of phenological and morphological features of plants, selection of adaptive varieties, means of protection of crops from harmful objects, especially weeds and avoidance of negative impact on the environment. The aim of the research was to identify the effectiveness of autumn and spring herbicide treatments on the yield and quality of winter wheat. Wheat varieties Meskal and Palyanytsia were used for these studies. We found that the term of herbicide treatment significantly affects the weediness of crops, crop formation and grain quality. Autumn herbicide treatment of winter wheat crops with Marathon, simultaneous application of 150 kg/ha of diammophos and double fertilization of plants with ammonium nitrate contributes to obtaining in the conditions of sod-podzolic sandy soils grain yields of varieties Meskal and Palyanytsia at level of 4,8–5,0 t/ha. We found that in areas not treated with herbicides, the number of weeds increased from 80 to 130 pcs/m2 . The application of the herbicide Marathon (4 l/ha) in autumn ensured a reduction in the number of weeds in winter wheat crops from 86–90 pcs/m2 to 8–10 pcs /m2 . Spring application of this herbicide was less effective and weed rates in these areas decreased from 100–110 pcs/m2 to 24-27 pcs/m2 . Spring application of Prima herbicide (0.5 l/ha) on wheat crops showed the worst weed numbers (30–32 pcs/m2). During the autumn treatment with the herbicide Marathon, the number of productive stems was the largest: in the variety Mescal – 553 pcs/m2 , and in the variety Palyanytsia – 560 pcs/m2 . Reducing the weediness of winter wheat crops not only affected the number of productive stems, but also significantly improved grain qualit