Assessment of the biologicals’ impact on the growth and development of sorghumcrops in the Vologda oblast

The article considers the results of studying the influence of the biologicals “Nautrost”, “Naturest-Active”, “Naturest-M”, produced by Biotrof LLC on the productivity and nutritional value of sugar sorghum Galiya variety and grass sorghum hybrid of the Guardets variety. The purpose of the research is to assess the possible prospects of cultivating sorghum for green mass in the conditions of Russia’s northwest including with the biologicals’ usage. For the first time in the region, we have studied the influence of biologicals based on strains of living organisms Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus buchneri, Bacillus megaterium on sorghum cultures. A micro-plot field experiment was conducted on the Vologda Oblast territory in 2020.We have found that under the influence of biologicals, the content of photosynthetic pigments in the leaves of plants increased up to 85.7%; the maximum content of pigments was observed in the leaves of both cultures when applying the preparation “Naturest-M”. Under the conditions of a field experiment, sugar sorghum plants did not pass to the tillering, in grass sorghum hybrid plants, the total bushiness under the influence of biologicals increased by 28.6-200%. Under the influence of the preparation “Naturest”, a slight growth in the length of the stem and the area of the leaf surface was observed. The wet weight of grass sorghum hybrid plants under the influence of biologicals increased by 61.3-100%, the increase in biomass was largely due to the influence of the biological “Naturest”. The introduction of biologicals affected the nutritional value of sugar sorghum. For instance, the content of feed units increased by 4.8-12.7% compared to the control, metabolic energy - by 3.4-4.7%, crude protein -by 17.3-20.1%, the fat content slightly increased and the crude fiber content decreased. In terms of the nutritional value of the green mass, sugar sorghum is somewhat inferior to annual ryegrass.