The effectiveness of agro-technological methods of medicinal crops growing on irrigation

The article presents the results of experimental studies on optimizing the planting density of medicinal plants of the Lamiaceae Juss family. (Gubotsviti) as a factor in the formation of their productivity in conditions of drip irrigation. Research work has been carried out with the most common medicinal crops of this family: oregano (Origanum vulgare L.), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.), peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) in the conditions of the Left-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine during 2016-2020 on the lands of the Experimental Station of Medicinal Plants of the Institute of Agroecology and Nature Management of NAAS (Lubny district of Poltava region) with the participation of the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation of NAAS. In a one-factor field experiment, 8 elementary variants of planting density were studied: from 33 thousand / ha to 222,0 thousand /ha. Studies have shown that, despite genetic relatedness, members of the family Lamiaceae Juss. have a demonstrably different response to the density of planting under drip irrigation. Thus, the highest yield of dried oregano grass for both the first and second year of cultivation was obtained in the variant with a planting density of 166,7 thousand plants / ha. The most productive crops of lemon balm in the first and second years of cultivation were at a density of 83,3 thousand plants / ha. The highest yield of thyme for the first year was obtained in the variant of 222,0 thousand plants / ha, and for the second year - in the variant with a density of 111,0 thousand plants / ha. Peppermint formed the highest productivity at densities of 55,6 thousand plants /ha in both the first and second year of the growing season. A new scientific result is the obtained dependences of the yield of medicinal plants of the family Lamiaceae Juss. from the number of plants per unit area, which are described by the corresponding mathematical equations.