THE EFFECTS OF USING DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO SEEDLINGS

Abstract

Tobacco is an economically important crop in Macedonia. To improve tobacco production is necessary good agricultural practice, which also involves the implementation of new technologies for production of tobacco seedlings. The Floating Trays System (FTS) is an advanced plant growing technology, which is particularly important when it comes to the resistance of tobacco plants and adaptation to a new environment (unavoidable physiological stress after transplantation). It represents an environmentally acceptable technology that allows respectively management chemicals and decreasing the risks of pollution on the humans and environmental management, as well as the establishment of sustainable development at the global level. FTS also provides a high yield and high quality of tobacco. Allows maximum use of dissolved nutrients, so plants form a strong root system and have a rapid development after transplantation. Further development of strong stems enables the formation of an adequate number of leaves even in unfavorable climatic conditions for tobacco, and synthesizes and accumulates more dry mass per plant. The experiment was set in a randomized block system in four repetitions on two oriental tobacco cultivars (prilep NS 72 and yaka YV 125/3), each in three variants: variant 1-control (conventional system of production); variant 2-N and variant 3-P (the soilless system using Floating Trays). Among the systems evaluated, the soilless system is technically the most successful and innovative which represents a technological progress for producing uniform seedlings for their quick formation in the field and to establish more homogeneous plantations. The results obtained in this trial showed significant differences among the tested variants.