Grain quality of spring wheat depending on the predecessors and tillage in the climate of Chelyabinsk region
In Chelyabinsk region, spring wheat is the main grain crop, occupying more than 60% of the grain area. To increase the production and improve the quality of grain, the improvement of technologies for the cultivation of spring wheat is of primary importance. The aim of the research was to study the complex effect of predecessors and tillage on the quality indicators of spring wheat grain. The studies were carried out in 2017-2019 on leached chernozems with heavy granulometric composition in the stationary experiment of Chelyabinsk Research Institute of Agriculture. The object of research was the early spring wheat variety Chelyaba, sown according to various predecessors and technological systems of soil cultivation. It was found that during the research period the nature of the grain and the quality of gluten depended to a greater extent on the predecessor (the contribution of the factor was 56% and 53%), while the vitreousness and gluten content depended to a greater extent on the tillage (46% and 58%, respectively). The influence of the studied factors on the protein content in grain was determined by the conditions of the growing season. In the insufficiently humid growing season of 2017, this indicator reliably depended only on the predecessor (the contribution of the factor was 36%), in the drought conditions of 2019 this indicator reliably depended on soil tillage (77%), while in conditions of sufficient moisture in 2018, the protein content in the grain depended both on the choice of the predecessor (34%) and tillage (26%), and on the interaction of these factors (22%). The use of peas and pure steam as a predecessor for spring wheat increased the grain size by 17.3 and 9.0 g/l, respectively, compared to spring rape. Moldboard tillage contributed to an increase in grain size by 10.7 g/l, with minimum and combined tillage causing 11.0 g/l and 17.0 g/l, respectively, compared to no till (758 g/l). In our experience according to the set of quality indicators, the grain of early spring wheat variety Chelyaba in all variants generally corresponded to the 3rd class of (valuable) wheat