Yieldcapacity of soybean varieties with various vegetation periods, depending on sowing time in the Eastern Forest-Steppe of Ukraine
Sowing is one of the most important agronomic measures in soybean cultivation. However, today in Ukraine there is no universal approach to defining the optimal sowing time. Some researchers assert that one should rely on the calendar period of sowing; other specialists argue that the spring features should be the primary determinant; the third group think that the thermal conditions at a depth of 10 cm is the main factor; and according to the fourth opinion, soil and clime characteristics are critical. The hydrothermal conditions in the years of our research deviated significantly from the annual average. Thus, the hydrothermal coefficient during the soybean growing period in 2018 was 0.34, and in 2019 it was 0.52, indicating that the cultivation conditions were arid (0.5 <HTC <0.9). The experiments showed a clear downward trend in the growing period length and upward trends in the field germinability of seeds and leaf surface area when soybean was sown in soil warmed to 14-16оС on May 10-15. In this case, the biometric parameters of soybean plants improved, and the yield increased by 0.15-0.16 t/ha. Keywords: soybean varieties, weather conditions, sowing time, field germinability of seeds, plant survival, photosynthetic and symbiotic activities of plants, grain yield.