RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FIBRE FLAX YIELD AND DIFFERENT FORMS OF NITROGEN IN THE SOIL

Research on fibre flax yield response to the amount of different nitrogen forms in the soil was carried out at the Upytė Research Station of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture (LIA). Humus content (as a source of nitrogen) (%), total nitrogen (%), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+) (mg kg-1), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-) (mg kg-1), total mineral nitrogen (Nmin) (mg kg-1) were measured in the soil samples collected from the plough layer, and the correlation between the mentioned - above soil variables and fibre flax yield was calculated. In most cases the relationships were weak but significant. Seed, stem, and long fibre yields responded to the soil nitrogen differently. The strongest correlation was established between flax yield and humus content

STEM CRUSHING - AN ECO-FRIENDLY WAY TO EFFECT ON FLAX DEW-RETTING

Preparation of flax raw material - retted straw - is becoming more and more problematical since the straw is prepared by way of dew-retting, because this run under the open sky and fully couldn’t be controlled, and this concludes in insufficient fibre quality. Besides of this, during the flax pulling process part of the stems is caught by the belts of the pulling combine LKV-4T and consequently is damaged (crushed). Thus fibre separation in this part of the stem usually runs more quickly and the quality of flax fibre along the stem becomes uneven. Top-part of the stem is damaged by thrashing apparatus. Furthermore, we should remember that the shape offlax stem is a cone, and dew-retting process at flax foot part takes much longer than at the top or at the strongly damaged middle part of the stem. The influence of crushing of fibre flax stems and desiccation was investigated at the Upyte Research Station of LIA in 2003. Special crushing apparatus was assembled on the flax combine LKV-4T. Desiccated with glyphosate and non-desiccated flax stems were crushed during pulling. The quality of fibre after stem crushing was higher

The effect of seed dressing and stand density on the morphological characteristics of flax stems and long fibre output

Analizuoti pluoštinių linų veislių ‘Ariane’ ir ‘Baltučiai’ stiebeliai. Bandymai buvo atlikti 1998-2000 m. Šakių rajono Kriūkų ŽŪB ir 1999-2001 m. Lietuvos žemdirbystės instituto Upytės bandymų stotyje. Linai nurauti ankstyvosios geltonosios brandos. Nustatyti linų biometriniai rodikliai - po 50 augalų iš laukelio. Augalų aukštis matuotas liniuote, stiebelio diametras – mikrometru. Pluošto išeiga nustatyta stiebelius išmirkius ir išmynus staklėmis SMT-200M. ‘Ariane’ veislės linų pasėlyje, tankumui esant iki 12,5 mln. ha-1 augalų, linų stiebeliai buvo stori – 2,0-2,61 mm. Ploniausi stiebeliai (0,98 mm) buvo ten, kur augo daugiau kaip 20,0 mln. ha-1 augalų. Iš storų, reto pasėlio augalų stiebelių, bendrojo pluošto išeiga (15,8 proc.) buvo iš esmės mažesnė nei iš plonesnių tankesnio pasėlio linų (34,0 proc.). Kuo stiebeliai buvo plonesni, tuo didesnė buvo ilgojo pluošto išeiga: iš 2,41 mm storio stiebelių gauta 6,65 proc. ilgojo pluošto, o iš 1,33-0,99 mm diametro stiebelių – atitinkamai 21,15-25,78 proc. ilgojo pluošto. Pasėjus nebeicuotą veislės ‘Baltučiai‘ sėklą 22 mln. ha-1, iki rovimo išliko 15,1 mln. ha-1 stiebelių; apdorojus sėklą efektyviais beicais, augalų išliko 16,5-17,0 mln. ha-1. Beicuota sėkla apsėtuose laukeliuose linų stiebeliai buvo 0,1-0,2 mm plonesni nei kontrolinio varianto linų. Geriausias stiebelio aukščio ir diametro santykis (542) buvo linų, išaugusių sportaku 0,8 l t-1 ir maksimu star 1,5 l t-1 apdorota sėkla apsėtuose laukeliuose. Apibendrinę bandymų, atliktų Kriūkuose ir Upytėje duomenis, galime teigti, kad kuo tankesnis buvo pasėlis, tuo linų stiebeliai išaugo plonesni. Plonesni stiebeliai buvo tinkamesni pluoštui išgautiStems of the fibre flax cultivars 'Ariane' and 'Baltučiai' were analysed. The test were conducted in Kriūkai, Šakiai district during the period of 1998-2000 and at the Upytė Experimental Station of the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture in 1999-2001. The flax was pulled at the early maturity stage. Biometrical indicators of flax were measured analysing 50 plants per plot. Plant height was measured with a ruler, stem density - by a micrometer. Fibre output was estimated after stem retting and breaking by the machine SMT-200M. In the stand of cv. 'Ariane' at a plant density of 12.5 million ha-¹ and more, flax stems were 2.0-2.61 mm thick. The thinnest stems (0.98 mm) were identified in the flax stand with the plant density of over 20.0 million ha-¹. The total fibre output from thick plants in a thin flax stand was significantly lower (15.8%) compared with thinner flax plants from the stand with a higher plant density (34.0%). Long fibre output increased in line with thinning of stems: 2.41 mm thick flax stems gave 6.65% of long fibre, and flax stems 1.33-0.99 mm in diameter gave 21.15-25.78% of long fibre, respectively. When untreated seed of cv. 'Baltučiai' was sown at the rate of 22 million ha-¹ (2.2 thousand plants m-²). Only 15.1million ha-¹ stems survived until pulling while in the treatments sown with reated seed the survived stems amounted to 16.5-17.0 million ha-¹ stems. In the treatments sown with treated seed flax stems were 0.1-0.2 mm thinner than those in the control treatment. The best stem height to diameter ratio (542) was identified in the plots sown with Sportac 0.8 l t-¹ and Maxim star 1.5 l t-¹ treated seed. Having summarised the experimental evidence obtained in Kriūkai and Upytė the conclusion can be made that the denser the flax stand the thinner the stems grew. Thinner stems were more suitable for fibre extractionVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŽemės ūkio akademij