The primary objective of this study was to identify the influence of irrigation and fertilization regime on some phenological stages and earliness of pruned pepper grown in plastic house. We applied four experimental treatments in this study. Three of the treatments were irrigated with drip irrigation and drip fertigation (KK1, KK2, KK3), while the last one was irrigated with furrow irrigation and conventional application of fertilizer (Ø B). From the results obtained during the three years of investigation, we can conclude that treatments with drip fertigation frequency of every 2 and 4 days (KK1 and KK2) and drip fertigation scheduled by tensiometers (KK3) shows from 4 to 10 days earlier initial technological maturity in comparison with Ø B. Results indicate that drip fertigation is an effective practice to achieve earlier yield. Namely, the drip fertigation treatments show from 19.34 to 38.89% higher earliness index compared with Ø B. Similar results were obtained for marketable yield, e.g. the lowest yield was obtained in treatment Ø B , while the highest one in treatment KK1.

Worsened water availability conditions caused by the recent processes of climate warming evoke the attention of the scientists to the efficiency of the water use by crops. A useful tool for successful yield and water management is the yieldwater relationship. The goal of the paper is to study the interrelations between water, water use efficiency and yield of canola and to calibrate some yield-water dependencies which can be recommended for prediction of the irrigation water amounts and the yield. A moderately early canola hybrid (Brassica napus, L.) was studied for its sensitivity and response to water. A field experiment in Sofia region, Bulgaria, was conducted. Three levels of soil moisture conditions in a chromic luvisols were tested: rain-fed; deficit moisture, managed by 50% deficit irrigation; and normal moisture conditions, managed by full irrigation at a refill point 80% of field capacity. The data from the experiment was processed by analysis of variance and regression analysis. The results show that soil moisture level has statistically significant impact on the yield accumulation. It contributed to increasing the seed yield from a minimum 1.319 Mg/ha at ET=189.0 mm under rain-fed conditions to a maximum of 4.889 Mg/ha at ET=310.0 mm under normal moisture conditions. The maximum irrigation water use efficiency in the experiment was 1.78 kg/m 3 at an irrigation depth of 94 mm, ET=268.5 mm and seed yield -4.189 Mg/ha. The maximum water use efficiency occurs earlier than the maximum yield. By managing 12% less (than needed) seasonal evapotranspiration, the yield losses were only 6%. Elasticity (sensitivity of the crop to water) can be used as an indicator for the critical range of the seasonal evapotranspiration, in which the water use efficiency and the yield are maximal (0≤EWP≤1). The yield response factor K y of FAO linear function was established as 1.52. The parameters of the local Davidov equations were calibrated as a=3.53 and k=1.58 for the single-power equation and q=2.39 and r=13.63 for the two-power equation. Davidov equations

Land consolidation and land compensation require the evaluation of the productivity of the exchanged or recompensed areas. A serious deficiency in land consolidation regulations set by the Agricultural Land Ownership and Use  Act, 1991 is the 10% restriction on the difference in the exchanged areas before and after land consolidation. The simultaneous action of the current methodology for equating lands by their quality, together with the legal restrictions of this Act, limits the implementation of land consolidation to only highly productive lands of the 1st to the 3rd land category. The objective of this paper is to suggest a method for extending the implementation of land consolidation to larger areas and to recommend a fairer calculation method in equating lands by their quality. Two approaches to landed property exchange are united. One of them is based on the mean estimates of land productivity per land category (MLPE) (considering the Bulgarian Land Categorization System), the other one – on the detailed land productivity estimates of each landed property (DLPE). The adapted FAO Land Suitability Classification is suggested to identify areas suitable for land consolidation. Regression analysis and expert assessment were used. The data required for GIS processing are specified and systemized. A proposal for the improvement of the legal framework is given.

Agricultural territory planning is the omitted item of land management in Bulgarian legislation. This causes unofficial, chaotic and non-holistic use of the Agricultural Territory with future negative consequences for farm, regional and state economy development. The objective of this study is to present a concept for strategic and on-farm planning of the Agricultural Territory and to suggest changes in legislation. Documentary analysis of normative, strategic, historical and other documents in respect of spatial and land-use planning has been conducted, including the National Strategy for Regional Development 2012-2022 and the National Concept for Spatial Development 2013-2025, Ordinances of the Council of Ministers, acts of Municipal Services of Agriculture, Analytical Reports on sustainable agriculture management on municipal level, land use plans and maps. Quantitative and qualitative methods for collecting and processing economic, geographic and statistical information were used. The paper presents an outline of a modern Agricultural Territory Development Concept (ATDC). Approaches for long-term strategic land planning on municipal level and short-term land planning on farm level are proposed. ATDC offers completion of Spatial Development Plan on municipal level with details of Agricultural Territory; includes recommendatory development zones that are based on the natural recourses distribution, quality of land and zoning of agricultural production in the country; outlines regimes and optionality of the territorial elements and development zones. The Concept gives general characteristics of a Land Use Plan (instead of Specialized Detailed Development Plan) and its territorial elements on farm level. As a result of the study, amendments to the regulatory framework are proposed too.

SUMMARYThe goal of the paper is to compare the impact of conventional tillage and no-tillage technology on the growth, the yield and yield components of sweet corn, cultivated on chromic luvisols. A field experiment with Super Sweet 71,12 R hybrid was carried out in 2014 in the region of Sofia, Bulgaria. The impact of both systems on the total fresh ear yield, marketable fresh ear yield, total ear number, marketable ear number, single marketable fresh ear mass, marketable ear row number, one row kernel number of a marketable ear, marketable fresh ear kernel mass, plant height, leaf number per plant, ear legth, and tassel length was established. Analysis of variance was applied to all data obtained. The experiment was carried out on chromic luvisols, in a temperate-continental climate and in a very humid year. The results showed that the conventional tillage in such nature conditions have had better performance than the no-tillage technology. The yield of marketable fresh ears under conventional tillage was twice higher than that under no-tillage, i.e. 8.5 Mg/ha vs. 4.2 Mg/ha; kernel mass of a single fresh ear was with 22.6% higher, i.e. 163.8 g vs. 133.6 g, the 1000-kernel mass was with 14.4% higher, i.e. 337.2 g vs. 293.0 g. Analogously, the plants were longer and had thicker stems with greater leaf number, resulting in 12.5% greater fresh-ear length -20.7 cm. The total fresh biomass under conventional tillage reaches 633.0 g/plant vs. 414.6 g/plant under no-tillage and the dry matter -145.6 g vs. 103.7 g/plant. The protein content was 13.8% vs. 12.7%. The production under conventional tillage was more profitable. The price of a marketable corn ear was much lower -0.0358 EUR/pc vs. 0.0512 EUR/pc. No-till requires precise preliminary estimation of the nature conditions and weather prognoses and cannot be recommended to very humid areas and