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Practically no studies on drip irrigation of raspberries in the conditions of the Moscow region have been carried out, in particular, the patterns of the production process of plants under drip irrigation have not been identified. In this regard, the purpose of the research was to study the effect of drip irrigation regimes on the formation of raspberry seedlings in the conditions of soddy-podzolic soils in the Central region of the Non-Chernozem zone of Russia. The studies were carried out on the lands of the educational and experimental farm of the laboratory of fruit growing "Michurinskiy Sad" of the Russian State Agrarian University - Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy in 2020-2022. The two-factor field experience included regimes as the first factor, and varietal characteristics as the second. As a result of the research, it was revealed that drip irrigation contributes to the saving of irrigation water and the creation of an optimal water-air regime of the soil during the entire growing season. In the variant of drip irrigation with maintaining moisture in the root layer in the range of 80-100% of the lowest moisture capacity, the saving of irrigation water compared to furrow irrigation averaged 65%, and in the variant of 60-80% of the lowest moisture capacity - 78%. Drip irrigation contributes to the formation of seedlings with the highest values of biometric indicators (stem diameter, plant height, leaf surface area and volume, length, mass of the root system) and increase productivity. An analysis of the experimental data on the biometric indicators of raspberries and its yield allows us to recommend irrigation regimes with maintaining the moisture content of the root layer of the soil in the range of 70-90% of the lowest moisture capacity and 80-100% of the lowest moisture capacity as optimal.

Wettability at the metal-ceramic interface is highly important for the development of modern composite materials. Poor wettability by metal melts restricts the use of alumina in protective metal matrix composite (MMC) coatings. In the present experimental study, the possibility to modify wetting properties of alumina by thermochemical surface boronizing was investigated. The results of SEM, EDS, XRD and XPS characterisation of surfaces revealed the formation of oxygen containing Al–B compounds identified as aluminium borates (Al18B4O33/Al4B2O9); no signs of non-oxide Al–B compounds were observed. The shape of the single splats deposited on the boronized alumina surface by the thermal spray and re-melted in the furnace revealed that significant wetting improvement by self-fluxing nickel alloy did not occur. However, the improvement of adhesion between the nickel/nickel alloy and Al2O3 surface was obtained due to formation of an intermediate layer consisting of B, O, Al and Si between the metal and ceramic surfaces at the presence of some silicon at the modified surfaces. The presented study demonstrates that the thermochemical boronizing of alumina in amorphous boron medium is a simple method to obtain a thin aluminium borate layer consisting of oriented nano-rod-like crystals, whose growing direction is predetermined by the orientation of the alumina grains’ faces at surface.