Influence of drop irrigation and ways of primary tillage on yield and quality of fruits of sweet pepper in the conditions of the Republic of Dagestan
Relevance. In the conditions of the dry-steppe zone of lowland Dagestan, the beneficial effect of drip irrigation in combination with dump cultivation on the yield and quality of sweet pepper fruits from Moldova proved. Results. It experimentally established that maintaining moisture in the active 0.5 m soil layer during the growing season within 80- 100% of LMC against the background of dump processing to a depth of 0.23-0.25 m led to an increase in yield and biochemical composition of sweet pepper fruits. Differences in the influence of dump and small (0.10-0.12 m) tillage on agrophysical and phytosanitary indicators of fertility of meadow medium loamy soil were revealed. The data showing the inappropriateness of using small-scale cultivation under conditions of irrigated vegetable growing, which leads to a deterioration in the agrophysical indicators of fertility: increase in soil density by 0.05-0.08 t/m<sup>3</sup>, decrease in the number of water-resistant units by 7,0%, water permeability reduction by 22.0% and water resistance coefficient by 12.9%, 2.1 times increase in planting weed and 212.6% potential soil weed. Of the three studied thresholds of soil moisture (70, 80 and 90% LMC), it was established that the best conditions for plant growth and development, optimization of their photosynthetic activity are created at a humidity threshold of 80% LMC, at which the most efficient use of irrigation water is noted. Drip irrigation with maintaining the pre-irrigation threshold for soil moisture not lower than 80% of against the background of dump processing leads to an increase in the number of fruits on 1 plant, an increase in the mass of 1 fruit, which contributed to an increase in yield to 62 t/ha.