INFLUENCE OF SOWING TIME AND SOWING RATE ON WINTER BARLEY PRODUCTIVITY AND WEED INTENSITY

Abstract

The field experiment was conducted in 2023–2024 at the Vytautas Magnus University Agricultural Academy Testing Station, in a winter barley crop. A two-factor field experiment was conducted to determine the influence of different sowing times and seed rates on the productivity of winter barley ‘Jakubus‘ and weediness of the crop. Three terms were chosen for winter barley sowing, sowing was delayed every 10 days and three different seed rates. Factor A of the experiment – sowing time: August 25, September 5, September 15; factor B – seed rate: 2 million units ha^-1, 3 million units ha^-1, 4 million units ha^-1. After assessing the productivity of winter barley when their sowing times and seed rates are different, it was found that both factors had a significant influence. Sowing time had a significant impact on the number of productive barley stems only when sowing at 4 million units ha^-1 and when sowing on September 15. The highest yield was determined in the winter barley crop, which was sown on September 15 at a seed rate of 3 million ha^-1. Early sowing on August 25 reduced the productivity of winter barley compared to sowing 10 and 20 days later, regardless of the seed rate sown. It can be stated that it is not worth increasing the seed rate when sowing winter barley early. Weediness in the barley crop was more determined by meteorological conditions and crop formation in the spring. The number of weeds was the highest in the crop sown on August 25 at a seed rate of 4 million units ha^-1. Neither the sowing time nor the seed rate had any significant differences in the weed mass.