EFFECT OF MICRONUTRIENT FERTILISERS ON GRAIN QUALITY OF WINTER WHEAT SOWN AT DIFFERENT TIMES

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of micronutrient fertilisers on grain quality of winter wheat sown at different times. The experiment was carried out in the years 2023-2024 at the Experimental Station of the Academy of Agriculture of Vytautas Magnus University. The test station is located in the south-western part of Kaunas city, in the territory of Noreikiškės municipality. The variety of winter wheat selected for the study was 'Skagen', with a seed rate of 2 million units ha^-1, sown with the ACCORD 'm-drill' (Germany) seed drill. In a two-factorial experiment, the effect of micronutrient fertilisers on grain quality was studied in winter wheat sown on four different sowing dates (7 September, 14 September, 21 September and 28 September). The statistical reliability of the data was evaluated by two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) from the software package SELECTION. The study showed that early sowing and the application of micronutrient fertilisers had a positive effect on the grain quality of winter wheat. The highest protein (12,3 proc.), gluten (25,0 proc.) and hectolitre weight (71,7 kg hl^-1) were found in the early sown crop (7 September), when winter wheat was additionally fertilised with micronutrients. Significantly the lowest protein (10,7-10,9 proc.), gluten (20,3 proc.) and hectolitre weight (68,5-8,7 kg hl^-1) were found in the late sown fields (21 September and 28 September) which were not subjected to any additional micronutrient fertilisation. The use of micronutrient fertilisers was particularly important in the case of the late sowing, as it significantly increased the grain quality parameters and thus partly compensated for the unfavourable growing conditions.