Agroeconomic Assessment of Technological Methods for Barley Grain Production under the Conditions of the Central Chernozem Region of Russia

The study was performed to assess the effect of the main tillage methods and rates of mineral fertilizers on the yield, quality, and economic efficiency of barley grain production under the conditions of the Central Chernozem Region. The work was performed in 2014–2022 in crops of barley in a grain-grass row crop rotation located on a watershed plateau. The soil of the plot was typical medium loamy chernozem. We studied the variants with different rates of fertilizers: without fertilizers, N 30 Р 30 K 30 , and N 60 Р 60 K 60 and with various methods of basic tillage: plowing to a depth of 20–22 cm, disking to 8–10 cm, and nonmoldboard loosening to 20–22 cm. The experimental data were processed according to the method of optimal planning of a multifactorial experiment. The yield of barley grain increased over the entire range of increased rate of fertilizers. The yield was the greatest (3.32–3.63 t/ha) on the background of plowing. The protein content and grain unit slightly depended on the rate of fertilizers. The mean for the fertilization variants amount of protein was maximal (13.1%) in the variant with soil disking and minimal nonmoldboard loosening (12.7%). The grain unit (631–637 g/L) corresponded to the first class according to GOST 28672-2019 . Nonmoldboard loosening is preferable for obtaining better grain unit. The weight of 1000 grains increased parallel to the fertilizer rates. It was maximal (46.9–48.4 g) in the variants with nonmoldboard loosening and disking. The lowest prime cost of grain (4650 rubles/t on average) was recorded for disking. It increased from 4390–4820 to 4990–5540 rubles/t with the rise in the yield of barley grain in variants with higher rates of fertilizers, because yield gain did not cover the expenses for the application of higher fertilizer rates.