Experimental Modeling of the Influence of Mineral Nutrition Conditions on Spring Two-Row Barley Plants under Light Culture Conditions.

The purpose of the study was to identify the influence of mineral nutrition conditions on morphogenesis and absorption of macronutrients by spring barley plants of two varieties in the period from germination to earing under controlled conditions of light culture. The objects of the study were plants of two-row barley of the Takmak variety and the Salome variety. The plants were grown by hydroponics on expanded clay under controlled environmental conditions. Four variants of nutrient solutions were prepared for watering plants: variant one (control)—Knop solution of standard concentration; variant two—Knop solution was prepared with 50% concentration from its standard concentration; variant three—solution was prepared on the basis of Knop solution but with 50% of N concentration from its standard concentration; variant four—solution was prepared on the basis of Knop solution but with 25% of P concentration from its standard concentration. As a result, variants two and three showed a decrease in total bushiness by more than 30% compared to the control. The mass of plants in variants two and three turned out to be 50 and 35%, respectively, less than in the control. The decrease in plant mass was mainly due to a decrease in the mass of lateral shoots. The level of consumption of mineral elements, closely related to the composition of solutions, affected not so much the chemical composition of plant tissues as the amount of plant biomass, which manifested itself in high correlations between the consumption of mineral elements and the gross content of these elements in plants with rather weak links between consumption and the content of mineral elements in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]