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Large-scale yield prediction of major crops is important to ensure rational science-based policy in agricultural economic activity, especially in planning import and export of plant products and food security assessment. Remote sensing is flexible and convenient tool for the evaluation and prediction of crop yields on large areas. In this study, remote sensing data on the normalized difference vegetation index, calculated for the croplands of Kherson region, were applied to create regression models of potato, vegetables, fruits, and berries yields in the region. The normalized difference vegetation index values were calculated using raw MODIS Terra images for the croplands of the region, retrieved from the service of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Vienna, Austria) and GIMMS Global Agricultural Monitoring System for the period 2005-2021. The average annual yields of the crops in the region were retrieved from the Ukrainian State Statistical Service for the stipulated period. As a result, linear regression models and models based on artificial neural networks were created to predict yields based on the values of the normalised difference vegetation index. The strongest relationship between the remote sensing data and yield was established for vegetables (in May, R=0.63), while the weakest relationship was established for fruits and berries (in August, R=0.33). The regression models developed have a reasonable to good prediction accuracy for potatoes and vegetables (MAPE=10.04—21.07%), while the prediction of fruits and berries yields has a low precision and reliability. The developed models could be further used in agrarian policy substantiation in Kherson region, as well as in scientific purposes. Artificial neural network-based models provided better predictive accuracy but are less helpful in understanding the principles of regional crop yield prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article was to describe the outcomes of an in-field evaluation of the NDVI Converter application, which was created to assess the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) using estimates of the percentage of green canopy cover. The study was carried out in 2023 on fields of winter wheat, winter barley, and winter oilseed rape in the phenological stages BBCH 21-32 and BBCH 18-39, respectively. The fraction of green canopy cover was estimated using the application Canopeo. By comparing the mean absolute percentage error and Pearson's correlation coefficient to the actual values of the spatial vegetation index, as determined by the platform OneSoil, the quality of the vegetation index evaluation was assessed. Thus, it has been established that NDVI Converter offers accurate vegetation index assessment for cereal crops, with mean absolute percentage error 16.23% and Pearson's correlation coefficient within 0.99, and reasonable quality for oilseed rape (statistical indicators of 46.61% and 0.99, respectively). After the adjustment, the accuracy score of the NDVI Converter increased up to 27.62% for oilseed rape, and 8.71% for winter cereals. Therefore, NDVI Converter could be recommended for practical use in case the spatial vegetation index is not provided by satellite imagery services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is one of the major food crops with a growing demand on the global market. The need for water-saving and environmentally friendly technologies presses current agricultural science to look for alternative ways of rice irrigation. The most prospective one is drip irrigation. Yield prediction is also of great importance for sustainable agriculture. The goal of the study was to create a pilot model for drip-irrigated rice yield prediction in the conditions of the South of Ukraine using spatial normalized difference vegetation index. The index values were taken from OneSoil AI platform for the drip-irrigated rice cultivated in 2016-2017 within the framework of cultivation technology studies. The highest index value was recorded in the stage of "tillering-heading" and applied for the regression and neural networkbased models. It was established that the performance of various regression models was quite similar in fitting quality and accuracy, while neural network-based one provided significantly higher precision. It is reasonable to simulate drip-irrigated rice yield with a good accuracy (MAPE<15%) using simple linear regression model. Further improvement of predictions is expected through the increase of the sample size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenological monitoring is a necessary part of crop production. Fertilization, plant care measures, irrigation scheduling and plant protection are closely related in their efficiency to timely and precise determination of certain phenological phases of the cultivated plants to ensure the best out pay of the technological operations. Phenological observations are usually time-consuming and require some extra expenditures due to the need to visit each field of a farm or agricultural holding and cross it several times to assess the growth and development of the cultivated plants on the large scale. Modern technologies, mainly remote sensing, provide an opportunity to estimate crops development both on the scale of a local field or whole farm in time-saving and cost-effective manner through vegetation indices. The purpose of this study was to determine the correspondence between the values of the normalized difference vegetation index and phenological phases of drip irrigation rice, cultivated in the south of Ukraine during 2016-2017, to ensure the possibility of remote phenological monitoring in such crops. As a result, the highest values of the vegetation index were determined to be recorded in the tillering-heading period, and usually coincides with the period of July. The determined rice vegetation patterns are not only for rice growers due to time and cost savings for crop phenological monitoring, but are also of great importance for intelligent agriculture in the sense of crop recognition automation and mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of climate change, there is a growing need to study the impact of environmental factors on plant life. This, in turn, will allow the reasonable use of agricultural techniques, to form high-yielding crops, and increase crop productivity. The following variants of tillage and irrigation technologies were included in the research scheme (i) conventional tillage without irrigation; (ii) no-till without irrigation; (iii) no-till with drip irrigation system; (iv) no-till with system of subsoil drip irrigation. Corn yield varied significantly from the studied factors of cultivation technology. The highest productivity of 12.1 t/ha was obtained under no-till with a system of subsurface drip irrigation and 12.0 t/ha under no-till with drip irrigation system. During the statistical processing of the obtained experimental data, no significant difference between the studied variants was found. Carrying out an economic analysis of corn growing in the arid climate of the Southern Steppe of Ukraine testifies to the high efficiency of application of the new tillage and irrigation systems in the cultivation technology. The application of no-till with drip irrigation system allowed to obtain grain with a cost of 3.72 UAH/t, to obtain a profit of 50.13 UAH/ha with a level of production profitability of 112.2%. It should be noted that the use of no-till with system of subsoil drip irrigation led to slightly lower indicators of economic efficiency of corn cultivation, under which the level of production profitability was 109.0%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's turbulent and unstable environment, international companies, including Ukraine and Georgia, are forced to move to technologies they did not plan to implement for some time and reconsider their strategic priorities. "Become digital or die" is the reality of the COVID-19 epidemic. Companies that will survive in the long run - those that have the best tools that allow them to be flexible, agile, agile; those who are better than others will be able to respond to changes in the product range, control and monitor their factories, regulate supply chains and will be able to use their workforce really anywhere. Mixed research methods were used to analyse the data. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study were the dialectical method of cognition, a systematic approach to the use of general provisions of economic theory. According to the research results, despite the serious positive transformations in the field of digitalization, there are a number of current and significant unresolved issues in the industry. It is established that the digital economy in Ukraine and Georgia, despite a number of existing problems, is developing dynamically. Organizations in various sectors of the economy are beginning to actively implement digital solutions, taking into account the specifics of their activities. Innovation is the engine of economic development, so attempts are made to find and create the most appropriate forms of organizational associations of innovative enterprises, alliances, within which strong cooperative ties can be established. The need for large-scale cooperation and coordination in the form of networking of participants in the innovation process becomes quite obvious, which provides them with a beneficial effect and corresponding competitive advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research is devoted to a comprehensive approach to the study of soybean productivity depending on the different tillage technologies and plants' spraying of salicylic acid of climate change in Southen Ukraine. The proposed measures will save water resources up to 30% through the use of portable moisture meters to control soil moisture and the no-till technology; increase the soybean yield by up to 14% by spraying plants of salicylic acid. It was determined that the density of soybean plants during the growing season decreased on variants with traditional technologies in comparison with no-till the deviation makes almost 6%. The soybean water consumption coefficient in the experiment varied significantly in the range from 1,710 to 2,330 m3 /t. Soybean plants used water reserves most rationally in variants where traditional technologies were used. The average increase in yield according to the experiment under traditional technologies was 5.4%, with no-till was 20.3%. In terms of economic and bioenergy efficiency, no-till does not have significant advantages over traditional technologies. Reduction of costs in the introduction of no-till for energy consumption of machinery, fuel, electricity is fully offset by the growth of indirect energy costs, in particular, the cost of herbicides, due to high weed infestation of uncultivated crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents experimental materials on the assessment of economic, bio-energy and ecological efficiency of the elements of the levels of technology biologization for sunflower cultivation. The study was dedicated to evaluation of the following cultivation technology elements: sunflower hybrid (factor A); the level of biologization of cultivation technology (factor B). All the elements of biologization of the cultivation technology for sunflower hybrids resulted in significant improvement of basic indexes of economic efficiency. The analysis of the indexes makes it possible to state that, by Factor A, the highest economic attractiveness is characteristic of the variants of an extensive (minimum) cultivation technology, in which the level of profitability during the years of the research was 160.1% on average, and organic technology -159.9%, respectively. If the manufacturer is certified and a batch of commercial sunflower has organic status, it is possible to increase this index to 211.9%, taking into account 20% organic bonus. The highest energy efficiency in the experiment was characteristic of the variants without the use of the most energy-intensive components - mineral fertilizers. The variants of biologized I and organic technologies ensured the value of this index at the level of 4.76 and 5.73, respectively. Analysis of the environmental suitability of the crop hybrids that formed the gradation of factor A of the experiment allows drawing a conclusion that the advantage of the hybrid PR64F66 F1 in the main indexes reflects its ecological tolerance, and primarily in the plasticity bi (1.06 compared to 0.96 for the variant of the hybrid Tunca F1) and stability Sdi2 (0.00091 vs. 0.00077, respectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cereal industry in the aspect of ensuring the food security of the country, is a strategically important component of the grain food market, but requires solving a number of important problems in achieving sustainable development, increasing production volumes and increasing export potential on the world market. The production of cereals remains a problem industry, as demonstrated by the significant fluctuation and high level of prices for the main types of cereals. Mixed research methods were used in the analysis of cereal crop market data. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study was a dialectical method of cognition, a systematic approach to the use of general provisions of economic theory. Conducted studies of cereal crop cultivation in Ukraine evidenced that gross yield of buckwheat increases on an intensive basis - with a decrease of 11.3 per cent, an increase in yield of 21 per cent; tends to decrease in gross millet yield (62.3 per cent) under the influence of reduced acreage and yields, rice production remains stable. Growing and processing of cereals are concentrated in the Eastern and central regions of Ukraine, and rice - in the Southern part. Increase the efficiency of cereal crop production in Ukraine can be achieved through the use of production reserves associated with the intensification and optimization of the organizational and economic mechanism of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the research on the impact of doses of mineral fertilizers and inter-row spacing on fruit productivity of pumpkin. The research was conducted in 2017-2019 in dark-chestnut slightly alkaline soils. The experiment scheme included the following factors and their variants: the varieties Yanina, Dolia, Rodzynka; the inter-row spacing: 70 cm, 140 cm, 210 cm; the doses of fertilizers: without fertilizers, N30P30, N60P60, N90P90. The experimental data were processed by the standard ANOVA procedure within MS Excel software. A steady level of fruit productivity of pumpkin with high economic indexes in the South of Ukraine is reached when growing the varieties Dolia and Rodzynka with the inter-row spacing of 140 and applying N60P60. We established that the application of these techniques allows achieving the fruit productivity at the level of 25-30 t/ha, the net profit being 63024 and 78026 UAH/ha, and the level of profitability being 165.1 and 201.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently horizontal drainage is a key ecological reclamation measure aimed at regulating water and salt regimes of soils, especially under conditions of irrigated agro-landscapes. Taking this measure becomes especially important under conditions of global and regional climate change. The operating conditions for horizontal drainage have changed resulting in changes in its efficiency. It is especially important for durable drainage, when its efficiency decreases it could even stop functioning. It requires a considerable number of research activities, but very few Ukrainian farmers can carry out monitoring research on the performance of horizontal drainage, constructed on their plots. It prevents from finding out negative aspects in horizontal drainage in time and taking appropriate measures. These difficulties can be avoided in case of using the developed and approbated methodology of recovering a number of horizontal drainage expenses through expenses of the research plots, determining the performance of horizontal drainage by these results and developing appropriate ecological reclamation measures to increase productivity of irrigated drained agro-landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of many years of field research of the Bromus inermis productivity with different feed systems. The studies were conducted during 2011-2014 on gray forest soils. The following factors and their variants were included in the research scheme: the rate of mineral fertilizers and the time of foliar feeding with water-soluble fertilizer Master 18.18.18+3 at a dose of 5 kg/ha. Mars and Vseslav varieties were grown during the experiments. The experimental data from Bromus inermis were processed by the standard ANOVA procedure within MS Excel software. The most effective system of Bromus inermis fertilizer is the combination of mineral fertilizers N60P45K45 with the application of water-soluble fertilizer Master in the tillering stage (1-2 ten-days periods of April) and in the heading stage (1-2 ten-days periods of May) at a dose of 5 kg/ha, which, during the years of experiments in average, provided 355 kg/ha of the seeds yield of the Mars variety and 370 kg/ha of the Vseslav variety, that is 55 and 60 kg/ha more than with the use of mineral fertilizers and 225 and 245 kg/ha more than in variant without fertilizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific paper presents the experimental data on the impact of different cultivation technologies on the indexes of assimilation surface area, chlorophyll content, its fractional composition (fractions "A" and "B") and the yields of sunflower hybrids under conditions of the Southern Ukrainian Steppe. The research was conducted in 2018-2019 on dark-chestnut soil in the semi-arid conditions. The research scheme consisted of the following factors and their variants: sunflower hybrids (PR64F66, Tunca); cultivation technologies (intensive; organic). The research results proved that the best conditions for the formation of the largest area of assimilation apparatus by sunflower plants were created in the organic technology (treatment of soil + seeds + plants with organic preparations during the growing season) when growing the hybrid Tunca: at the stage of 3 pairs of true leaves - 2.9; the formation of heads - 27.1; flowering - 37.1 and milky ripeness - 29.0 thousand m2/ha. Under the same conditions there was maximum amount of chlorophyll (9.71 mg per 1 g of dry weight) and enzymes. Sunflower cultivation under the organic technology caused the formation of maximum yield (PR64F66 F1 - 2.42 and Tunca F1 - 2.41 t/ha), realization of biological productivity (90.9 and 90.7%) and fat content (48.7 and 49.8%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the study devoted to the investigation of sweet corn economic efficiency production in dependence on the crop cultivation technology in the South of Ukraine. We studied the effect of basic plowing depth (20-22, 28-30 cm), mineral fertilization (no fertilizers, N60P60, N120P120), plant population (35,000, 50,000, 65,000, 80,000 plants ha-1) in the irrigated conditions of the Steppe zone on the yield of ears with connection of this index to the economic profitability. It was determined that the highest productivity of the crop (10.93 t ha-1) together with the highest profitability level (244.02%) was provided by the technological complex with plowing on the depth of 20-22 cm, mineral fertilizers application rate N120P120, plant population of 65,000 plants ha-1. We recommend the above-mentioned cultivation complex as a basic one for the farmers of the South of Ukraine due to its high economic profitability and best out-pay of the expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the field experiments dedicated to investigation of chickpea reaction on cultivation technology elements in the South of Ukraine. The study was carried out during 2012-2014 on the dark-chestnut soil in the semi-arid climate conditions. The design of the study included research of the crop reaction on the following agrotechnological factors: plowing depth (20-22, 28-30 cm), fertilization dose (N0P0; N45P45; N90P90), plants population (50, 100, 150 plants per m²), and humidification conditions (sprinkler irrigation applied or not). The study was conducted in four replications by the split plot design method with the crop variety Rosanna of Kabuli type. Chickpea yielding data were processed by ANOVA procedure, the differences obtained in the experiments are significant and reliable at the probability level of 95%. The results of the experiments testify that the best crop productivity could be obtained at the irrigated variants with the highest fertilization dosage, the maximum plants population, and plowing at the depth of 28-30 cm - 3600 kg per ha. However, the best water resource use efficiency was obtained at the variants with plowing at the depth of 20-22 cm - 36.66 kg per mm. Absence of water supply by irrigation also worsened the water use efficiency and productivity of the crop. Mineral fertilizers and optimum plants population significantly enhanced the crop water use efficiency and productivity both at the irrigated and non-irrigated conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the study dedicated to the investigation of sweet corn leaf apparatus growth and development in dependence to the crop cultivation technology elements, viz. depth of plowing, mineral fertilizers application doses, plants density, in the drip-irrigated conditions of the South of Ukraine. The field trials were carried out during three years (2014-2016) by using the split-plot design method in four replications with accordance to the modern requirements of the experimental work in agronomy. The results of the study showed the significant effect of all the studied agro technological treatments on the crop leaf apparatus. The highest Leaf Area Index (LAI) that averaged to 3.72 was obtained under moldboard plowing at the depth of 20-22 cm, fertilization with N120P120, and plants density of 80000 ha-1. The total amplitude of fluctuation of LAI averaged to 2.42. Increased plowing depth improved LAI of sweet corn only under the non-fertilized conditions, however, increased fertilizers doses and thickening of the crops positively affected the studied bio-metric index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chickpea is supposed to be a prospective crop for soil reclamation. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of tillage and humidification conditions on the chickpea desalination properties. The study was conducted by using the randomized split plot method in four replications during 2012-14 at the Agricultural Cooperative Farm «Radianska Zemlia» of Kherson region in Ukraine. The results of the study showed that the maximum salts uptake of 2.516 t ha-1 from the 0-50 cm soil layer and the maximum chickpea grain yield of 3.33 t ha-1 were provided under irrigated conditions with moldboard plowing on the depth of 28-30 cm. It was established that the higher chickpea grain yield is, the greater the salts uptake rate from the soil. It was also proven that the plowing depth has no significant effect on the chickpea grain yield and desalination properties. It should be mentioned that chickpea showed limited desalination properties. The crop was not able to adsorb all the sodium from the soil when irrigated with saline water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phaseolus vulgaris (haricot beans) is one of the most important pulse crops with high nutritive and strategic value. The goal of our study was to define changes in morphological elements playing the crucial role in crop productivity, namely, in the yield components (number of the pods and seeds per plant) depending on the cultivation technology treatments. We studied effects of moldboard plowing depth, mineral fertilizers application doses and inter-row spacing on the above-mentioned haricot beans yield components in conditions of the Steppe zone in field trials. The trials were carried out at the irrigated lands represented by the dark-chestnut solonets soil, in four replications by using the split plot design method with partial randomization during the period of 2014-2016. The data obtained in the trials were processed by using ANOVA and correlation analysis. Results of the study showed significant increase in the number of pods and seeds per plant of haricot beans with decrease of inter-row spacing width and higher mineral fertilizers application doses. Depth of plowing had no significant effect on the number of pods, and slightly effected the number of seeds per plant of haricot beans. The maximum number of pods (17.2) and seeds (71.7) per plant of the crop was provided by the agrotechnical complex with moldboard plowing at the depth of 28-30 cm, mineral fertilizers application dose of N90P90, and inter-row spacing of 15 cm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop models are of great use and importance in modern agriculture. Most models imply spatial vegetation indices, such as NDVI, or canopy cover characteristics, such as FGCC, to provide estimation of crops conditions and forecast productivity. The purpose of the study was to (1) determine the possibility of mutual conversion between spatial NDVI and Canopeo-derived FGCC in five crops (grain corn, sunflower, tomato, millet, and winter wheat) and (2) estimate the precision of such a conversion. The data set of the study was formed by the OneSoil AI derived satellite imagery on NDVI for the studied crops in different stages of their growing season combined with Canopeo-processed photographs of vegetating crops in the field with FGCC percentage calculation. The sets of NDVI and FGCC values were paired up and then statistically processed to obtain polynomial equations of NDVI into FGCC and inverse conversion for each crop. The results of the study revealed that mutual conversion between spatial NDVI and Canopeo-derived FGCC is possible. There is a strong direct correlation ( R 2 within 0.6779-0.9000 depending on the crop) between the studied indices for all crops. Close-growing crops, especially winter wheat, showed the highest correlation, while row crops and especially tomatoes had a less strong relationship between vegetation indices. The models for mutual conversion between FGCC and NDVI could be incorporated into the yield simulation models to improve the forecasting capacities., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Pavlo V. Lykhovyd et al.)