Annotation

Amaranth (Amaranthus L.) is a valuable fodder, grain, technical, food, medicinal and vegetable crop. It is one of the most drought-resistant crops in Ukraine and the most intensively develops at temperatures above 30 °C. The yield of amaranth green mass sometimes reaches 250 t/ha, and the yield potential is seeds – up to 4–6 t/ha. In terms of protein content in seeds (15–18 %) amaranth exceeds wheat (12–14 %), rice (7–10 %), corn (9–10 %) and other cereals.

The main value of amaranth is the ability to accumulate a lot of protein in grains and leaves. Amaranth oil contains up to 8 % squalene – a substance that is an excellent antioxidant. Field research was conducted in the Western Forest-Steppe of Ukraine, during 2019–2020, at the Department of Plant Technology in Lviv National Agrarian University. According to the research, it was noted that, at high levels of fertilizer, amaranth plants had a brighter leaf color and better development of vegetative mass. Also, there was an elongation of the interphase periods due to the appearance on the plants of branches with panicles of the second order, which bloomed during the formation of grain in the panicles of the main inflorescence.

The best indicators of the grain structure of the Ultra variety in the Western Forest-Steppe conditions were provided by the fertilizer level N200P80K120: the height of the plant was 166.9 cm, the length of the panicle was 89.4 cm, the weight of seeds from one plant was 30.5 g, the weight of a thousand of seeds was 0.78 g. The studies have shown that the highest level of yield of amaranth grain was provided by the rate of mineral fertilizer N200P80K120 – 22.9 c/ha, which is by 14.3 c/ha more than the control option. At the same time, the payback per kilogram of mineral fertilizers increased at the yield of amaranth grain equal to 3.56 kg.