2025/10/31 by O. Zhuikov, Pavlo Lykhovyd, L.M. Hranovska +2 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Nitrogen and Sulfur Effects on Brassica #Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism #Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.15421/012544
openalex publication_date 2025/10/31 · openalex created_date 2025/11/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The agricultural landscape of Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, is increasingly challenged by climatic variability and the imperative for resource-use optimization. To enhance the resilience and sustainability of crop production in this region, a two-year field study was conducted over the 2023 – 2024 growing seasons to evaluate the effects of three distinct cultivation technologies ( T rad i tional, B iological, and O rganic) an d three seeding rates (2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 million seeds/ha) on the productive moisture content, nutrient dynamics, and yield of brown mustard ( Brassica juncea ). The r esults indicated a clear superiority of the biologized agr o technological systems. The biological and organic technologies consistently maintained significantly higher productive soil moi s ture reserves throughout the growing season and demonstrated lower average daily water consumption. This translated into sup e rior water-use efficiency, with lower water consumption coefficients (WCC) recorded for the biologized treatments. In addition to water efficiency, these systems exhibited superior nutrient-use efficiency. Regression modeling confirmed a strong relationship between agrotechnology and nitrate uptake (R 2 = 0.72), with b iological (24.5 kg/t) and o rganic (23.6 kg/t) systems requiring significantly less nitrate per ton of yield compared to the traditional approach (29.8 kg/t). The impact on phosphorus uptake was more nuanced (R 2 = 0.39), with the organic system demonstrating the highest efficiency (60.8 kg/t), highlighting the role of long-term soil health in phosphorus cycling. Furthermore, the study confirmed a quadratic relationship between seeding rate and water consumption, underscoring a critical trade-off between plant density and water use. Ultimately, the resource-efficient biological and organi c systems produced significantly higher yields, with top performances reaching 1.57 t/ha of mustard seeds. These findings underscore that biologized practices are not only viable but are superior for optimizing agricultural resources and e n hancing crop productivity in semi-arid environments compared to traditional ones. The adoption of biological and organ ic cult i vation technologies presents a clear pathway for building resilient, high-yield agricultural systems capable of withstanding clima t ic stresses and reducing dependency on external inputs.