DIVERSIFICATION OF FARMS TOWARDS CULTIVATION OF NICHE CULTURES – ELEMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION STRATEGY

Abstract

Diversification of agriculture farms the implementation of an agricultural management system, which involves changing the sowing pattern from traditionally grown crops to adapted ones. Growing niche crops can be one of the ways to adapt farms. Therefore, the purpose of the research was to study the possibilities of diversification of farms in the direction of growing niche crops by determining the features of the formation of productivity and plasticity of their varieties in the conditions of the forest-steppe of Ukraine. Within the scope of the goal, such niche vegetable crops as okra, sweet potato, chufa and physalis were studied. The Sopilka variety was characterized by the highest yields of edible okra plants, where the average yield over the years of research was 8.5 t/ha of fruits. According to the coefficient of phenotypic stability of Lewis (Ksf), plants of the Juno variety had the most stable indicator of okra yield – 1.06. Among plants of the investigated varieties, the highest yield of sweet potato tubers was obtained when growing plants of the Admiral variety. So, on average, over the years of research, the yield of plants of this variety was 29.4 t/ha. However, plants of this variety were less stable (Ksf coefficient was 1.04). Varietal features of chufa plants affected their yield levels. In the conditions of the central part of Ukraine, plants of the Novinka variety were more productive the average figure over the years of research was 4.9 t/ha. The stability index of this variety was also the highest (1.13). The yield potential of physalis Zharinka variety is the highest in this region. The differences in the average levels over the years of research were 11.7% with plants of the control variety Likhtaryk and 6.7% with plants of the Ananasovy variety. Plants of the Likhtaryk and Zharinka varieties had an equally high coefficient of stability of the variety – 1.03. So, a big role in increasing yields of niche crops belongs to such a factor as the choice of variety. This is one of the important factors in the further adaptation of vegetable crop rotations to environmental conditions, which are constantly changing due to climate warming.