sulfur, spring barley, fertilization, yield components, grain yield
Abstract
The research, carried out over 2004-2007, investigated spring barley, Antek cultivar, grown in a strict fi eld experiment. The
aim of the present research was to determine the effect of sulfur fertilization on the spring barley grain yield and the most essential yielding components. The fi rst experimental factor represented the sulfur application method (n=2: foliar and soil fertilization), while the second one – by the sulfur form (n=2: ionic and elementary), and the third one – sulfur dose (n=4: in kg S·ha-1: 0, 20, 40 (20+20), 60 (20+20+20)). As demonstrated by the present research, the weather pattern over the vegetation period showed a considerably greater effect on determining spring barley yielding components than the factors considered in the experiment. The differences between
the mean values of the number of grains per spike, thousand seed grain and the number of spikes per 1 m2 in extreme years
were much greater than respective differences caused by the sulfur activity. The sulfur application method had a signifi cant effect on the number of grain per spike and thousand grain weight. It was shown that the soil application of sulfur generally enhances the values of those components more than the foliar application. The effect of the sulfur form used was signifi cant only in the case of thousand grain weight; its ionic form made it possible to reach higher values of that component than the elementary form. Of all the factors researched in the fi eld experiment, the spring barley grain yield structure components were most affected by the sulfur dose. The application of sulfur, in general, signifi cantly increased the values of the components researched. Based on the analysis of correlation there was noted the strongest relationship between the spring barley grain
yield and the spike density. The second strongest effect on the grain yield was demonstrated by the number of grains per spike. Sulfur fertilization did not change clearly the relationship between the yield and its structure components.
