Cultivation of Silage Sunflower of the Belosnezhny Variety in the Steppe Zone of the Omsk Region

Sunflower is one of the most important forage and industrial crops. With proper placement of crops in natural and climatic zones, in crop rotation and good agricultural technology, it forms high yields of green mass. In the farm of the agricultural production cooperative "Maksimovsky" in the Omsk region, the silage sunflower variety Belosnezhny is annually cultivated for silage preparation using mineral fertilizers and herbicides to control weeds. In this regard, a field experiment was laid down in the conditions of this farm to identify the effect of the fertilizers and herbicides on the productivity of sunflower and the quality of forage. We have found that the application of mineral fertilizers N40P60 and the herbicide Furore® Ultra during sowing contributed to better growth of the variety; the height of plants during harvesting was 13 and 33 cm, respectively, greater than in the control - 214 cm. The use of the herbicide led to a significant decrease in weed infestation, on average over the years of research up to 15% or 3.7 times compared to the control. The maximum productivity of the Belosnezhny variety when grown for silage was noted with the combined use of mineral fertilizers in a dose of N40P60 and the herbicide Furore® Ultra. The average yield of green mass reaches 55.7 t/ha, which is 16.5% more than in the control, the collection of feed units is 7.74 t/ha (by 42.5%), crude protein is 1.38 t/ha or 27.8%. The content of digestible protein in one feed unit is 111-118 g, with a zootechnical norm of 100-110 g.