ADAPTABILITY OF MILLET VARIETIES TO SOIL FEATURES OF THE BLACK SEA STEPPE ZONES OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The article analyzes the problems of the reaction o f millet varieties to soil salinity, flooding and the effect of nutrition conditions on the yielding capacity in stubble crops of the Black sea steppe zones of Ukraine.The results of the experiment on the selection o f a promising millet variety aimed at using it in stubble crops show that its yields ranged from 20 to 34% in the years of the research. The rate of variation was from 38 - in Veselopodoliansky 632 to 49% - in Slobozhansky and Kyivsky 87. The year 1997 being wet all the varieties generated quite high yields (on average 28,5 centners per hectare), the next year being dry - the yields were 2.5 times less - 11,3 centners per hectare, and this fact is explained by the essential influence of the growing conditions (77,8%). In the particular years the force of the influence of the environmental factors ranged from 14.0 to 57.5%.According to the results o f the ecological testing of the researched varieties it is possible to consider the millet variety Veselopodoliansky 632 to be the most suitable for growing both in wet and dry years, using irrigation or without it, and it is proved by the index o f the ecological stability - the ratio of the yielding capacity under unfavourable conditions to the yielding capacity under favourable conditions.