Formation of Elements of Yield Structure and Quality of Mustard Seeds Depending on Genotype and Mineral Nutrition

Given the steady increase in the Earth's temperature in the context of global climate change, which negatively affects the growth and development of most crops, the search for sustainable ecologically adapted plant species and ways to maintain their yields is of great practical importance. Mustard is one of the crops that can grow in drought conditions, which is driving demand for it. The article presents the results of studies of the peculiarities of the formation of the crop structure elements, yield and quality of mustard seeds depending on varietal characteristics and mineral nutrition. It was found that the application of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, both main application and together with foliar fertilization with nitrogen fertilizers, provided a significant increase in the yield structure indicators – plant height in all phenological phases of mustard growth and development, the number of stems and pods per plant. The greatest increase in plant height of all varieties in phenological phases of growth and development, the number of stems and pods per plant was with the integrated use of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers as the main application and two-time foliar fertilization with nitrogen fertilizers. Indicators of the yield structure elements significantly depended on varietal characteristics. If in the rosette phase, the influence of the “fertiliser” factor was 71.0%, the “flowering” factor – 86.7%, and in the bud and ripening stages the influence of fertilizers was less and amounted to 47.2% and 38.3%, respectively, the influence of the “variety” factor was the greatest in the bud stage and amounted to 48.6% and in the ripening phase – 39.4%. The increase in yield structure indicators contributed to the improvement of mustard seed productivity - while on average, seed yield significantly increased with the use of mineral fertilizers compared to the control without fertilizers, then seed quality – germination energy and germination, when applying mineral fertilizers did not provide a sufficient increase in these indicators, they were at the level of control and only the weight of 1000 seeds significantly increased both depending on the genotype and the use of mineral fertilizers, which provided an increase in the yield of seeds of all varieties.