Methods for obtaining and using information from field experiment focused on organic / conservation agriculture

Institute of Agroengineering and Environmental Problems of Agricultural Production - Branch of the FSBS Institution “Federal Scientific Agroengineering Center VIM”, Filtrovskoe shosse 3, settlement Tiarlevo, 196625, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

^* Corresponding author: minin.iamfe@mail.ru

Abstract

Crop Rotation Experiment was established on experimental facilities of the Institute for Engineering and Environmental Problems in Agricultural Production – branch of Agro-Engineering Centre VIM, Saint-Petersburg. The objective of the study was to consider the requirements for growing organic potatoes. In an experiment with potatoes (Solánum tuberosum) variety Udacha, the influence of 3 factors was studied: the effect of organic fertilizers; action of bio-fungicide; row spacing depth. The compost studied was produced in the Institute from chicken manure using an aerobic fermentation unit. Doses of composts corresponded to 0; 80; 110, 160 kg N/ha. Potato tubers were treated with a bio-fungicide using a sprayer installed on a potato planter, and the leaves were treated during the growing season. Organic technology for cultivating potatoes was developed at the institute and used in experiment. The experiment has been equipped with automated tools for collecting information. Weather conditions differed from each other during the experiment. In 2021, conditions were dry during the potato development period. Weather conditions in 2020 and 2022 were similar. Monitoring shows that deep cultivation of row spacing contributed to better absorption of precipitation. This created more convenient conditions for potato development. Compost helped to increase the content of mineral forms of nitrogen in the soil. Due to high soil fertility, the yield of standard potato tubers in the variant without compost and bio-fungicide reached the level of 20.3 – 20.5 t ha^-1 in 2020 and 2022 and 13.4 tha^-1 in 2021, a dry year. Compost provided a significant increase in potato yield from 4 to 9 tha^-1, depending on the dose of compost and year. The array of experimental data was generated for 2017-2022. After mathematical processing, the dependence of potato yield on the hydro-temperature coefficient in May and the dose of compost used was obtained.