Influence of organic matter of sod-podzolic soil on the yield and quality of flax products

Abstract

   The influence of organic matter of sod-podzolic medium loamy soil on the yield and quality of flax products was studied by means of vegetation and field experiment. The research was conducted in 2021-2023 in the north-eastern part of the Republic of Belarus. The soil was characterized by organic matter content of 1.51–1.52 – 2.02–2.05 – 2.52–2.56 %, high content of mobile forms of phosphorus (242–250 mg/kg soil) and potassium (216–232), medium content of boron (0.56–0.62) and copper (2.7–2.9), and low content of zinc (2.5–2.9 mg/kg soil) with an acidity of 5.4–5.5 pHac1. The studies were conducted under drought conditions of fiber flax vegetation in 2021 (Selyaninov HTC 0.74), under slightly drought conditions in 2022 (HTC 1.24) and extreme conditions in 2023 (HTC May – 0.08, June – 0.68, July – 3.71, vegetation period – 1.63). The positive influence of soil organic matter on the yield and quality of flax products has been proved. Increasing the organic matter content in the soil from 1.5 to 2.0 –2.5 % improved seed yield by 16–35 % due to an increase in bolls (+22–39 %) and seeds per plant (+46–65 %), flax straw – by 10–33 % due to an increase in technical stem length (+6–13 %), fiber – by 14–37 %, including long fiber – by 15–43 % by increasing the number and size of bast bundles (+5 – 20 and 5 –28 %), as well as the number of elementary fibers in the bundle (+10 –15 %) and their transverse size (+7 –10 %). The quality of retted flax straw was improved by 1–2 numbers by increasing its content of long fiber fraction by 7–11 % rd. and improving color uniformity by 16–21 %. The increase in quality of long flax rolled and beaten tow by 1 number is due to an increase in its strick of flax length (+8–13 %) and strength (+3–8 %).