Assessment of the effectiveness of the use of covering and mulching materials in areas with drip irrigation on the yield and quality of planting material of horticultural crops in the conditions of the forest-steppe of the south of Western Siberia

Studies were carried out in the forest-steppe zone of the Altai Territory in areas with drip irrigation in 2025 according with generally accepted methods. Covering and mulching materials were used when growing honeysuckle and sea buckthorn seedlings, meadow-chernozem soil moistening was maintained at the level of 70% of HB. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of covering and mulching materials on the cultivation of honeysuckle and sea buckthorn seedlings using drip irrigation in the forest-steppe conditions in the south of Western Siberia. It was found that the use of covering and mulching materials had a positive impact on the quality indicators of the Berel honeysuckle seedlings. Depending on the experimental variant, seedling height increased by 2.9-26.6%, trunk diameter by 31.7%, the number of primary roots by 16.0-62.7%, root length by 2.6-35.9% compared to the control variant. The most of high-quality seedlings were obtained in the variants with sawdust and black spunbond (73.3%). Growing Zhemchuzhnitsa sea buckthorn seedlings using covering and mulching materials in a drip-irrigated area improved the quality of the planting material. Biometric indicators increased by 6.5-14.8% (seedling height), 3.6-21.9% (number of aboveground branching), 6.3-22.3% (trunk diameter), 10.1-27.5% (number of primary roots), 1.4-38.8% (root length). The most of first-grade commercial seedlings were obtained in the variants using black spunbond (73.3%) and straw (80.0%).

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