Abstract
The article presents the results of a three-year (2018-2020) study on the biological characteristics of the lentils’ variety “Viceroy”, its relationship to the conditions of nitrogen nutrition and responsiveness to nitrogen fertilizers in the dry steppe zone of Northern Kazakhstan. According to the results of field and laboratory studies, a high correlation was revealed between the productivity of lentils and the nitrogen content of nitrates in the soil (R=0.93; R=0.85), the optimal level of nitrate nitrogen in the 0-40 cm soil layer – 13-15 mg N-NO3 for the Viceroy variety was determined. At this nitrogen level, the highest yield was formed – 27.6 c/ha. Studies have shown that the main reason for the formation of high yields was a change in structural components, namely, the number of pods (from 35.8 to 50.6 pieces) attached to the plant and the weight of seeds (from 1.5 to 2.1 g) from one plant. According to experience, the difference in the average weight of 1000 seeds was obvious in 2018 (39.7 g), in 2019 (33.2 g), in 2020 (32.0 g), however, there were no changes in fertilized variants. With an increase in the amount of nitrogen fertilizers, the nitrogen content in grain increased by 3.45-4.16%, protein by 19.3-23.3%. Bringing the nitrogen content in the soil to the optimal level will allow you to form the maximum possible yield of lentils of the "Viceroy" variety in the prevailing weather conditions.