The paper considers the results of research into the water consumption and yield of durum spring wheat cultivar Õàðüêîâñêàÿ 23 (Kharkovskaya 23) on dark chestnut soils without irrigation. It was established that the use of soil productive moisture during the growth period of durum spring wheat depended on the level of mineral nutrition. At the variants with fertilizing, moisture use was more intensive; therefore at the phase of wheat full maturity soil moisture reserves at these variants were significantly lower (24.6-29.9 mm) than at the variants without fertilizing (33.1-35.5 mm). Total soil moisture reserves depended on weather conditions, aboveground mass and the rate of soil moisture consumption by wheat plants during the growth period. For years of study, at the variants with fertilizing season total crop water consumption was in average from 2187 to 2241 m³/ha depending on the plant protection system and it was higher at the variants without fertilizing – 2131 m³/ha. The least water consumption coefficient was recorded at the variants where the total chemical protection together with recommended fertilizer dose and the fertilizer dose calculated for yield of 1.8 t/ha was carried out. For years of study, the average value of water consumption coefficient was 1227 and 1242 m³/ha, respectively. Applying of recommended fertilizer doses gives the opportunity to save on the formation of each ton of grain of durum spring wheat 983-1075 m³ of water or 40.1-43.8 %. It was established that at the risk agriculture zone where the limiting factor is productive soil moisture reserves, the yield of durum spring wheat can be up to 3.5-4.0 t/ha in wet years, and up to 1.5-2.0 t/ha in dry years.
