Growth and development of Kochia prostrate (L.) Schrad in the extraordinary year in the north desert of Atyrau region in Kazakhstan

A system of agriculture is being developed to accumulate and preserve moisture in soil strips (5-10 cm wide, 5 cm deep, repeated every 50-55 cm in virgin soil untouched by vegetation), treated by surface raking of the loose seedbed layer to form a solid compacted bed, where an ideal condition for seed germination is created. With a favorable combination of weather and climatic conditions, this variant provides an optimal fullness of seedlings and a fairly high fruit-bearing weight of 3.9 t/ha on average for four years, including 4,8 tons in 2019. However, in extraordinary 2019-2020 crop year with extremely low precipitation (2,7 times lower than average annual norms), with the warm winter and spring (100 more than the average annual norm), incredibly intense droughts and dust storms (average of 18-19 days a month vs 4-5 mean annual norm) wind erosion dominated and dictated terms everywhere: furrows, sown with seeds of Summer Cypress were completely covered with drifts of dust with a thickness of 2-3 cm, under which the seedlings could not break through to the surface of the soil and died. In the cultivar keeping nursery, where seeds were sown directly without tillage and 15 PCs/m2 of seedlings were obtained only in the dust-inspired areas that make up one third of the area (400 m2).