Foliar Top Dressing of Meadow Clover in the Conditions of North Ossetia-Alania

In recent years, research on foliar nutrition of plants, including clover, has taken on a large scale. In the conditions of North Ossetia-Alania, work on the study of foliar nutrition of seed clover has not been carried out before. In our experiments in 2023-2024, studies were conducted to identify the effectiveness and best timing of spraying seed clover with solutions of phosphorus-potassium and nitrogen fertilizers. In this regard, various methods of feeding crops have been widely used that can increase both yields and their quality indicators. This paper presents some aspects of the study of various methods of foliar fertilization of meadow clover seed crops, which can also increase the yield of seed products. Meteorological conditions over the years of experimental work were characterized by the following indicators: May and June were wet (164% and 143% of precipitation from normal), and July and August were dry (88% and 40% of precipitation from normal). According to our experiments, foliar top dressing of seed clover with phosphorous, potash and nitrogen fertilizers during the phase of early and mass flowering in conditions of insufficient soil supply with nutrients and moisture significantly increases seed yield. Positive results were obtained with foliar top dressing during the mass flowering phase of clover with an infusion of superphosphate at 15 kg per hectare. Spraying with solutions of potassium chloride and ammonium nitrate during the mass flowering phase of seed clover turned out to be relatively less effective. The analysis of the crop structure shows that the increase in the yield of clover seed products during foliar fertilization is mainly due to better seed heads and an increase in the absolute weight of seeds.