Head of the project: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lyuba Glogova and Prof. Dr. Viliana Vasileva

Duration: 01.01.2024 - 31.12.2027Summary

The current challenges to agriculture as one of the most sensitive sectors to climate change require the search for agrotechnological techniques to avoid and/or more easily overcome their adverse consequences. Of great importance is the need to adapt crops and cultivation technologies to increased drought periods and seasonal fluctuations resulting from climate change. Science should recommend integrated approaches to build sustainable agriculture under these conditions, giving priority to multidisciplinary research.

Maize is an important fodder, food and technical crop. Breeders' efforts are aimed at creating hybrids with high adaptive and productive potential. Not only the selection, but also the technology and application of appropriate agrotechnological practices is important for the success of its cultivation in the changed climatic conditions. Future production will depend on new developments in technology to increase productivity, in addition to the effects of climate change.

With the inclusion of intermediate crops (legume:grass mixture) when growing maize (monoculture and in crop rotation wheat, maize, sunflower) the following is expected: enrichment of the soil with available nitrogen, increase of its moisture-holding capacity, improvement of its mechanical composition, more high productivity and grain quality, establishing the effect of intercrops on weeding and economically important enemies of the main /-s/ crop /-s/.

The emphasis is on plowing the mixture, due to the greater part of leguminous components in it, enriching the soil with nitrogen. No less important is an increase in the moisture-holding capacity of the soil, which, in the event of a drought, will help to overcome the drought more easily. These favorable plant development factors, together with improved soil mechanical composition, availability of more plant-available essential nutrients, we hypothesize, will lead to higher maize productivity and grain quality.

Making predictions about an industry like agriculture is not easy because it is affected by many factors, some of which are unpredictable. However, analysts, based on historical data from previous years and a careful analysis of current trends, have determined the direction towards which agriculture in Europe is going (https://agri.bg/novini/10-makrotendencii-v-evropeiskoto-zemedelie-prez-2024-g). The experts place among the top 10 trends the increasing use of cover crops with a view to increasing soil fertility and compensating the costs of chemical fertilizers - one of the goals we set for ourselves with the implementation of the research work on the project.

Key words: catch crops, maize, soil fertility, mixtures

Research team:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lyuba Glogova

Prof. Dr. Viliana Vasileva

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Emil Vasilev

Chief Assistant Dr. Sonya Goranovska

Chief Assistant Dr. Zhelyazko Vulchinkov

Assistant Dimitar Velchev

Assistant Petyo Dauldzhiev

Assistant Ani Dimitrova

Assistant Biserka Hinkina

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zdravka Petkova - ISAPP – Sofia

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rumen Bazitov – AI – Stara Zagora

Correspondent member Sergey Kots - IPPG- NAS, Kiev, Ukraine

Prof. Dr. Vera Popovic - Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops – Novi Sad, Serbia

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mikosav Babich - Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops – Novi Sad, Serbia

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vera Rajičić, University of Niš, Faculty of Agriculture Kruševac, 37000 Kruševac, Serbia

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jela Ikanović, IPN - Institute for the Application of Science in Agriculture, Belgrade, Serbia