In the conditions of the Chuvash Republic, the effect of slottingbetween rowson hop yield and on the water-physical properties of gray forest soil was studied. Soil slotting was used during 2017-2019 in autumn after the completion of harvesting operations (late September-early October) on hop plantations of the Podvyazny variety. Tillage with a SCHX-1.6slotting device (Czech Republic) was carried out to the depth of 50 and 65 cm at different time intervals (annually and three years later). As the control, there was taken the conventional tillage without the use of aparaplow combined with autumn tillage of row spacing to a depth of 20 cm. Studies have shown that the use of aparaplow to a depth of 50 and 65 cm improved the aeration and water permeability of the soil (the specific weight of the 20-25 cm soil layer decreased by 0.1-0.2 g/cm3, the volume weight of the same layer-by 0.1-0.3 g/cm3) and contributed to an increase in hop yield by 1.4-3.1centners per hectare (LSD05 =1.3 centners/ha) compared to the conventional tillage of row spacing (20.9 centners/ha). The content of alpha-acids in hop cones was not affected by slotting between the rows of hops. The specific weight of the 50-55 cm soil layer significantly decreased in all variants in comparison with the control. The highest moisture content of the deep layers of the soil (30-55 cm) was achieved with conventional tillage combined with annual autumn slotting to 50 cm depth. All the studied variants in comparison with the control give a significant increase in the yield of hop cones. For the production, the variant with the lowest costs for deep tillage should be recommended. It is the annual processing of the top soil layer combined with the autumn slotting every 3 years to 50 cm depth.

The paper presents the results of 2018-2020 research on the study of 248 Russian and foreign varieties of the collection of common hop (Humulus lupulus L.) in order to identify promising ones with a complex of agronomic traits for developing new varieties adapted to the natural and climatic conditions of the hop-growing regions of the Russian Federation. The research was carried out in the conditions of the Chuvash Republic on dark gray forest heavy loamy soil. Sixty hop varieties in the early-ripening, mid-early and mid-ripening groups with the yields above 26.3 c/ha (weighing more than 3.5 kg of raw cones from one bush) were identified. High-yielding varieties prevailed in the mid-ripening group of the collection (67 %). The adaptability of the collection varieties to natural and climatic conditions was evaluated on the third, fourth and fifth years of the hop plantings (in three tabs). There have been identified six varieties, which in some years of growing exceeded the control variety Podvyazny according to adaptability coefficients (1.23-1.23-1.15): early-ripening English variety Golden Star (1.58-1.37-1.03); mid-early Russian variety Zvenigovsky (1.72-1.16-1.07); mid-ripening Russian variety Serebryanka Kalistovskaya (1.47-1.28-1.17), Guslitsky (1.50-1.26-1.23), Ukrainian Kruglyak-Seryak (1.76-1.44-1.18), Group 4 (1.80-1.80-1.31). The most consistently high results were shown by Group 4, Guslitsky, Kruglyak-Seryak. High-resinous varieties with a high content of alpha acids belonging to different types of hops were noted specifically. According to the complex of agronomic traits and resistance to false powdery mildew, 19 collection varieties have been identified.