Yield and Quality Parameters of Spring Oat Seeds 'Ovidiu' Variety in Relation to Technology Elements

Abstract

The study evaluated the influence of soil tillage and fertilization on the yield and some seed quality parameters of spring oats, 'Ovidiu' variety. The field experiment was located within Agricultural Research and Development Station (ARDS) Lovrin, in the agricultural year 2024 - 2025. The oat crop was located on a chernozem soil of medium fertility, in a non-irrigated system. Four types of soil work and two types of mineral fertilization were considered. From the combination of the two factors, the following experimental variants resulted: V1 – soil disking, NPK; V2 – soil disking, NPK+GAN; V3 – superficial scarification, NPK; V4 – superficial scarification, NPK+GAN; V5 – deep scarification, NPK; V6 – deep scarification, NPK+GAN; V7 – plowing, NPK; V8 – plowing, NPK+GAN; NPK type 15:15:15 in a dose of 150 kg/ha commercial product; GAN – granular ammonium nitrate, 200 kg/ha commercial product.  The size of an experimental variant was 145 m², and the variants were placed in three replications. Yield (Y, kg/ha) and seed quality parameters, tausend kernel weight (TKW, g), hectoliter weight (HW, kg/hl), protein (PRO, %), and grain moisture at harvest (MST, %) were evaluated in relation to the experimental variants. Low variability was recorded in the experimental data series, within the yield and quality parameters considered. Positive correlations, very strong and strong, were recorded between PRO and TKW parameters (r = 0.93), between yield and the PRO parameter (r = 0.94), between yield and the TKW parameter (r = 0.85). Multivariate analysis (PCA) explained the positioning and correlation of the variants, with the yield (V2, V4) and parameters considered for seeds, respectively with PRO and TKW parameters (variant V8) and with the MST parameter (variant V6). The other four variants (V1, V3, V5 and V7), which benefited only from NPK fertilization, were positioned independently. Cluster analysis grouped the variants based on similarity in relation to the values ​​of yield and seed quality parameters, considered simultaneously in the analysis. The variants were grouped into two distinct clusters in relation to the applied fertilization, and within each cluster, they were grouped in relation to soil cultivation.