Economic and energy efficiency of potato cultivation in different feeding areas and the use of fungicides in the Middle Urals

. The main factor in increasing the productivity of potatoes is the improvement of its cultivation technology. The purpose of the research was to determine the economic and energy efficiency of cultivating potato of the Gala variety under different feeding areas and the use of fungicides. The research was carried out on the experimental field of the educational and experimental farm of the Ural State Agrarian University during 2016–2018, in a two-factor field experiment according to the following scheme: Factor A (feeding area): 1400, 1750, 2100, 2450, 2800 cm2; Factor B (use of fungicides): “Shirlan”: 1400, 1750, 2100, 2450, 2800 cm2; “Infinito”: 1400, 1750, 2100, 2450, 2800 cm2. The objects of research in the experiment were medium early potato variety Gala and fungicides such as contact action “Shirlan” (0.3 l/ha) and “Infinito”systemic action (1.2 l/ha). The results showed that when using the fungicide “Shirlan” (factor B), the best in the experiments was the variant with a feeding area of 2450 cm2 (70 × 35 cm), where the highest yield of 36.6 t/ha was obtained, with a low cost price – 4446 rubles/ton, high profit – 269 172 rubles/ha and profitability – 165.43 %. In experiments on all variants, the energy efficiency coefficient did not reach 1.27. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time the influence of the feeding area (factor A) and the use of fungicides (factor B) on the yield, economic and energy efficiency of potato cultivation in the Middle Urals was studied.