Cold rainy weather delays sowing, which will lead to a change in the crop structure

This year, April in Ukraine was marked not only by a significant amount of precipitation, but also by the almost absence of sunny days without rain, which would allow the soil to dry out at least a little. This creates a significant problem, given the large amount of unfinished spring field work, - reports NAAS of Ukraine.

"All over the country there were prolonged precipitations, which amounted to 27.8 mm (146.3% of the average long-term norm) in Kyiv region, 22.3 mm (124%) in Vinnytsia region, 20.9 mm (131%) in Lviv region , Kharkivska – 20 mm (123%). The soil is maximally moistened in Zhytomyr Oblast as well. At the same time, the air temperature was 2.3-3.8 ^o C lower than the norm and was 8.5-10.8 ^o C," the NAAS said.

Wet weather requires immediate treatment of winter wheat and other cereal crops to protect against diseases, pests and weeds. Thus, morpho-regulators should be used on crops of early grain crops of optimal sowing dates, and crops of winter rapeseed should be treated with insecticides to protect against cytivoid.

"These works should be carried out as soon as the weather permits. The main criterion should not be the generally accepted period - when 70% of the plants have formed the first internode, but the physical possibility of carrying out work in any way," the scientists emphasize.

In addition, they warn about the high risks of crop failure, especially on soils with a high level of fertility, a strong nitrogen background, sown with tall varieties, when sowing more than 5 million plants per 1 ha.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, as of April 20, 1.005 million hectares of grain and leguminous crops were sown in the territory controlled by Ukraine, in particular:

• spring wheat - 169.1 thousand ha (146.4 thousand ha in 2022 and 124.2 thousand ha in 2021),
• barley - 557.4 thousand ha (742.9 and 1059 thousand ha),
• peas - 110.2 thousand ha (100.5 and 177.2 thousand ha),
• oats – 81.7 thousand hectares (112 and 134.6 thousand hectares),
• corn – 53.4 thousand hectares (122.6 and 35.8 thousand hectares).

In addition, on the specified date, 137.3 thousand hectares were sown with sunflowers (433.7 thousand hectares in 2022 and 390.1 thousand hectares in 2021), and 54.4 thousand hectares with sugar beets (74 and 110.3 thousand hectares ).

Optimum sowing dates for spring barley, peas, corn and sugar beets are coming to an end, so some producers will be forced to change the structure of crops and increase the area of sowing soybeans and sunflowers.