Best practices in corn crop desiccation
In the climatic conditions of Chuvashia in 2016-2018 field experiments on desiccation of corn crops were carried out. Corn for grain was grown on cultivated sod-podzolic soil according to energy-saving technology, based on autumn multi-depth disking and spring wheat stubble peeling, spring pre-sowing cultivation and sowing in the second decade of May. The objects of research were: a hybrid Katerina SV (FAO 170) and desiccants - Reglon super, Roundup extra, Zero super, Tornado. Crop care included spraying with herbicides “Dual Gold” (1.6 l/ha) before corn seedlings and “Banvel” (0.8 l/ha) in the 3-5 leaf phase. The treatment of corn plants with chemical preparations was carried out in recommended doses (2.0 l/ha) at a grain moisture content of 38-40 %, based on the calculation of the consumption rate of a working solution of 200 l/ha in the experimental versions two weeks before harvesting. The largest (5.1 %) decrease in humidity was recorded on the variant using Zero super, and the smallest (2.2 %) on the variant using Reglon super. The variants with corn crops treatment with desiccants Tornado and Roundup extra exceeded the minimum moisture reduction by 0.6 and 1.0 %, but were inferior to the maximum value by 2.3 and 1.9 %, respectively. After treatment with desiccants, the moisture of the cob leg decreased on average by 8.7-11.2 %, of the corn stalk by 6.4-9.6 %, of the cob shank by 3.3-5.6 %, and of the corn husk by 0.7-1.9 % and of leaves - by 0.4-1.0 %. This contributed to the exclusion of moisture exchange between them and the grain during post-harvest processing of the grain mass. Crop chemical treatment reduced grain yield by an average of 0.04-0.09 t/ha. In general, desiccation of corn crops allows you to prepare plants for mechanized grain harvesting.