Characteristics of Cultivars and Productivity Improvement Practices in White Mustard

The goal of the research was to study the effect of presowing and foliar treatment with microelement fertilizers on the productivity of white mustard and to comparatively assess its varieties (cultivars) in the conditions of the forest-steppe of the Middle Volga region. Experimental work was carried out on the experimental field of the Penza Research Institute of Agriculture in 2020–2022. The first experiment investigated nine varieties of white mustard of various breeding included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements. Efficiency of treatment of white mustard seeds and plants at the vegetative phase with microfertilizers at a rate of 1 L/t and 1 L/ha, respectively, were studied in the second and third experiments. The experimental design provided for eight microelement formulations, specifically, Gumat +7, Agroverm, Izagri Vita, Megamiks, Zircon, Tsitovit, BlekDzhek, and Izagri Force as well as a variant without fertilization. On average over 3 years, the productivity of mustard seeds varied within 1.32–1.61 t/ha depending on the variety. The highest yield in the experiment was recorded from the varieties Lyutsiya (1.57 t/ha) and Svetlanka (1.61 t/ha), which exceeded the average value for the experiment by 0.10–0.14 t/ha. The maximum oil content in the experiment was noted in the varieties Lyutsiya and Omega (30.02 and 30.48%); the content was the lowest in the varieties Passion and Bracco (25.05 and 26.24%, respectively). At the same time, all varieties exhibited a high level of agronomic stability indicator (78.33–85.82%), which characterizes their value for production. An upward trend was observed in the mustard productivity as a result of the use of microfertilizers. In foliar feeding of the mustard plants, Izagri Vita and Agroverm proved to be the most efficient fertilizers, which contributed to formation of high yields of 1.69 and 1.67 t/ha, respectively. The maximum oil content in the experiment (29.72 and 29.7%) was recorded from the seeds of the plants treated with BlekDzhek and Isagri Force formulations. Presowing treatment of seeds with microelement fertilizers promoted oil accumulation in the seeds up to 27.75–29.46% compared to 27.87% in the control. Variants with seed treatment with Izagri Vita and BlekDzhek formulations demonstrated the highest yield in the experiment (1.71 and 1.72 t/ha), which exceeded the control by 0.17–0.18 t/ha. Additionally, the studied formulations had an effect on fatty acid composition, in that their concentration decreased or increased. Foliar feeding with Tsitovit promoted an increase in the concentration of erucic acid up to 30.1%, whereas presowing treatment of seeds with this formulation reduced its concentration to 25.3%.