Sunflower is the main oil crop in Russia. Sunflower plantings occupy more than 95% of the area under oil crops and annually make 7.07% of the area under grain crops. The urgent problem is the loss of oilseeds behind the header during sunflower harvesting which, according to agro-technical requirements, should not exceed 2.5% of the actual yield. The article presents the average loss of oilseeds behind various sunflower harvesting attachments. The analysis of rationality of their use depending on the area under sunflower plantings is given. The design is offered and the scheme is substantiated of the performance of an auger-reel for sunflower harvesting attachment. The developed auger-reel is equipped with a winding, which allows reducing the acceleration of the sunflower head movement during the harvesting and minimizing the loss of oilseeds behind the header to 0.63%. The results of the production tests of the developed attachment with “Niva” SK-5-M-1 and ACROS 530 combine harvesters are presented. Their comparison with the average losses of oilseeds using different by design attachments is given.

The article presents the results of scientific research on the use of residues of the dairy industry (cake) as an organic fertilizer for spring wheat. Cake refers to the residues obtained by cleaning milk pipes, and has a chemical composition and physical properties similar to cottage cheese, but has a pungent and unpleasant smell of spoiled foods. The direct effect of oilcake on the growth and development of spring wheat on light gray forest loamy soil was studied in field experiments established in 2017–2019. Scientific studies have shown that cake is an excellent organic fertilizer, and its use in doses of 30, 60 and 90 t/ha dramatically increases soil fertility and productivity of spring wheat, improves grain quality.

The article presents for the first time the results of using organic substances belonging to the category of industrial waste as fertilizers for agricultural crops. The dairy industry has waste (hereinafter referred to as cake) generated during the cleaning of milk pipes and requiring additional costs for their disposal. Biogas plant products (hereinafter referred to as biofertilizer) obtained from fresh chicken manure by fermentation in an anaerobic environment are also promising as fertilizer for agricultural crops. Biofertilizer and cake were applied superficially at different plots at doses of 3 kg/m2 (30 t/ha), 6 kg/m2 (60 t/ha) and 9 kg/m2 (90 t/ha). The potato tubers of the ‘Gala’ variety of German selection were planted. It was found that the higher the dose of the used substances, the greater the yield of potatoes. The yield increase in the variant of 30 t/ha of cake was 5.9 t/ha of potato tubers, 60 t/ha of cake - 11.3 t/ha, and in the variant of 90 t/ha of cake - 15.5 t/ha. The use of biofertilizers also caused an increase in yield. The use of waste as fertilizers enhances the biological activity of soils, increases the content of mobile nutrients of plants of light gray forest soil.

Existing methods for assessing the economic efficiency of the system of machines and technological methods contain numerous similar indicators. The multifaceted nature of the problem, its dynamism also cannot be covered by a single criterion – the value of the reduced costs. A method of systematic research and analysis of the technological efficiency of the production process has been developed to improve the technological processes and technical means for potato cultivation and to achieve higher economic indicators of agricultural production development. A generalized criterion characterizing the efficiency of the working process as a whole, which can be used to evaluate various technological operations in the production of potatoes, is obtained. Various technological processes performed by the working bodies of combined and serial machines were analyzed to verify and confirm the effectiveness of the developed provisions. At the same time, vector quantity was adopted as the main criterion for the comparative evaluation of machines and technologies. As a result of the implementation of this method, a scientifically based technological map for the cultivation of environmentally safe potatoes is proposed. The complex of agricultural practices for the implementation of the proposed technology is selected taking into account soil and climatic conditions and is designed for the cultivation of potatoes with minimal labor and money. The use of technological operations, such as the distribution of straw rolls on the field with its incorporation into the soil, germination of seed potatoes tubers in the peat-mineral shell, inter-row processing with sprinkling of plants with soil, simultaneous removal of the tops by crushing in the process of harvesting combines can significantly reduce costs in the production of potatoes.

The article contains the results of scientific research on the use of solid products from the processing of poultry manure in a biogas plant of OOO NPO Agrobiogaz, St. Petersburg (hereinafter referred to as TBU or solid bio-fertilizer) on soils contaminated with oil products. Solid biogas plant processing products are a non-traditional type of organic fertilizer. The chemical composition of biofertilizer was determined: 1 ton of a natural substance contains on average 16,5 kg/ton of total nitrogen, 20 kg/ton of total phosphorus and about 16 kg/ton of total potassium, as well as trace elements. Scientific studies have shown that the use of bio-fertilizer on artificially polluted soils weakens their toxic effect, and with an increase in the dose of bio-fertilizers, it consistently increases the yield of barley. The results of scientific studies have shown that solid products of a biogas plant can be effectively used as improver on oil-polluted soils.