Development of winter crops in Ukraine is 14 days ahead of the norm

At the end of April, Ukraine saw a rather noticeable advancement in the development of winter crops compared to the long-term average, specifically by 10–14 days. This fact was noted by experts from the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine in their monthly report.

In particular, in the last days of the previous month, the onset of earing was recorded in winter barley and early-maturing varieties of winter wheat. In most crops, plants are in the final stage of the tillering phase – they have formed a flag leaf. For spring cereals and leguminous crops, this spring has been early but prolonged. Despite the challenging weather conditions in the Steppe zone of Ukraine, the sowing of early spring crops was mainly carried out during the last decade of March to the first decade of April.

“Inspections of crops aimed at determining the state of sowing of spring cereals and leguminous crops, conducted at the end of April, showed that the degree of plant development is generally satisfactory, but for optimal development of the obtained seedlings, there is clearly insufficient moisture in the sowing layer, resulting in slowed vegetative growth and inadequate formation of the secondary root system in plants,” the experts noted.

They also reminded that the hydrothermal conditions of April serve as an indicator of the favorability of weather conditions for ensuring the normal state of winter and spring cereals, leguminous, cereal, and technical crops, as well as the formation of plant productivity.

“This particularly applies to the amount of precipitation that falls during this calendar period: in recent years, there has been a fairly clear pattern – sufficient precipitation in this month (not less than the climatological norm) typically ensured a fairly good harvest of winter crops, as well as early spring cereals,” the report states.

Tags: crop condition, Ukraine