TREATMENT AND FERTILIZATION OF WHEAT
Wheat is primarily used for making bread. Wheat is important in the milling and baking industry, the confectionery industry, the brewing industry and the pharmaceuticals industry, as well as in cattle raising. The most important indicator of the quality of wheat is the percentage of protein in the grain. Its agrotechnical importance is reflected in the fact that wheat is an excellent preceding crop, because it leaves clean and uninfested soil for the next crop and enough time for the soil to be tilled. In Serbia wheat is grown over an area of 600,000 hectares, with average yields of 4-4.5 t/ha. To achieve greater yields, wheat also requires appropriate agricultural techniques and production technology.
Crop rotation Wheat has greater requirements in terms of preceding crops because it achieves high yields only if the root system and vegetative mass is well developed by the time winter arrives, depending on the preceding crop.
If preceding crops are some small grains or field peas, then we have plenty of time until October to till the land properly. By means of shallow plowing or disking, preserve the moisture after harvest, and carry out plowing in September, at least two weeks before sowing the wheat, in order to allow the soil to settle.
If the preceding crop is sunflower, immediately begin breaking up the harvest residues after the harvest.
Annual legumes (soybean, pea, beans) are excellent preceding crops because they are removed early and leave behind a lot of nitrogen, clean soil and enough time for tillage.
When the preceding crop is corn, earlier hybrids are ready for harvesting earlier, and are better preceding crops that later ones.
Fertilization of wheat is part of complex agrotechnical measures for obtaining stable and high yields of wheat. In order to obtain a true picture of the production potential of the soil, it is necessary to analyze the fertility of the soil, i.e. determine the content of accessible macro and micro elements, based on which a recommendation of which fertilizer to use will be given. The entire quantity of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer is introduced in the autumn prior to the primary tillage. Of the recommended quantity of nitrogen fertilizer, 1/3 is applied in the autumn before primary tillage and the remaining after the N-min analysis, through the topdressing in the spring.
