The aim of the study conducted at the experimental farm in the Rostov region in 2011–2013 was to determine an optimal combination of tillage, water regime, and mineral nutrition for spring barley growing. We studied three methods of tillage (moldboard to the depth of 18–20 cm (control), boardless to the depth of 18–20 cm, and minimal (disking) to the depth 8–10 cm), three levels of mineral nutrition (recommended dose – Ð40Ê40, half dose – Ð20Ê20, and without fertilizers), and three variants of water regime (intense – irrigation at 75–80 % FC, water-saving – irrigation during the period “flowering–grain forming”, and rainfed). The generally accepted techniques have been used in field experiments. On the base of the study it was established that moldboard and boardless tillage to the depth of 18–20 cm had the equal impact on the crop productivity while energy costs for boardless tillage were significantly less – 142 MJ/ha against 360 MJ/ha. The variant with recommended fertilizer dose and intense irrigation provided maximal grain yield of spring barley within 3.70–4.74 t/ha what was in average 1.6 times more than at rainfed growing. Water-saving variant provided the yield of 2.89–3.59 t/ha what is 1.2 time greater than for raifed conditions. In water-saving variant the grain yield decreased by 1.15 t/ha (24.3 %) comparing to intense irrigation while savings of irrigation water were 380 m³/ha. The minimal water consumption per unit of additional yield (444.4 m³/t) and maximal output of additional production (0.23 t per 100 m³ of irrigation water) were in the variant of intense irrigation where the least water consumption coefficient (466 m³/t) was obtained. Applying mineral fertilizers by the dose of Ð40Ê40 provided the yield increase of 21.8 % comparing to the variant without fertilizers and the greatest amount of additional production – 9.9 kg per 1 kg of fertilizer.
Keywords: spring barley, irrigation regime, irrigation rate, yield, increase of irrigation, method of tillage, fertilizer dose.
