The basil production (Ocimum basilicum L.) heads the list of herb production all over the world. The best place for basil breeding is the location where the temperature sum of above 10 °C is 3700-3900 °C. These conditions indicate the possibility and feasibility of basil production in the lowland area of Transcarpathian region providing further development and improvement of the technological methods.

The trial was conducted in 2014-2015 in the lowland area of Transcarpathian region. The basil varieties such as Gvozdychny, Yunga, Korychny and Fioletovy opal were studied during the trial. The variety Yunga served as the control variety. The seeds were sown to obtain transplant seedlings thrice at 10-day intervals (the third decade of April – the 1^st seeding, the first decade of May – the 2^nd seeding, the second decade of May – the 3d seeding). During the period of seedling formation the timing of the onset of the phenological phases was recorded, and the biometric parameters were determined. The record plot was 15 m², the repetition was treble. After forming the first five pairs of leaves the seedlings were planted in the open ground using the scheme 50x20 cm. In the budding phase – early flowering period, the herbal raw material was collected, afterwards both the fresh herb material and the dried herb material of air-dry state were weighed. The second collection was performed after the repeated growth of the plants in the same phase as the first one.

It was established that in the first sowing time the longest period from sowing to seedling emergence (8 days) was observed in the variety Gvozdychny. The consequent sowing time led to faster seedling emergences which were two days and one day less respectively. The similar results were obtained with the variety Junga.

The shortest seedling emergence period was observed in the variety Fioletovy opal. In all three seeding periods the seedlings appeared within 4 days.

The similar period of massive seedling emergence after the first seeding time was observed in all the varieties. In the varieties Yunga and Gvozdychny, they appeared within 10 days, in the varieties Korychny – two days and Fioletovy opal - three days earlier.

The periods of bud formation were rather similar in Junga and Korychny varieties. In case of sowing in the first decade of May they coincided completely and were minimal in the trial – 42 days. In the variety Korychny, despite earlier seedling emergence by sowing at the same period, the bud formation period began 10 days later.

The budding period was delayed in the variety Fioletovy Opal, though the rapid seedling emergence was observed. Thus, in the first sowing time the plants of this variety entered into budding within 53 days, in the second – within 57 days, and in the third – only within 74 days after their sowing.

The least fluctuation in the budding periods was observed in the variety Korychny (within 50-56 days), while in the variety Fioletovy Opal, the difference was the highest (within 57-76 days).

The study of leaf apparatus formation of basil plants under study made it possible to establish that the first pair of true leaves formed in the varieties Yunga and Gvozdychny within the shortest period (9-10 days). This was observed in the plants sown in the second decade of May. In the varieties Korychny and Fioletovy Opal the shortest period of the first pair of leaves formation (within 8-9 days) was observed in the sowing time in early May.

The longest period of the fifth pair of leaves formation in all the varieties was observed when the sowing was in the third decade of April. The period ranged from 52 days in the varieties Younga and Korychny to 54 days in the variety Gvozdychny and reached the maximum of 58 days in the variety Fioletovy opal. The shortest period (37 days) of the fifth pair of leaves formation was observed in the variety Gvozdychny. In case of sowing in the second decade of May the longest period of the fifth pair of leaves formation was in the variety Fioletovy opal – 55 days.

It was also found that in the first sowing time the highest plants (over 16 cm) were observed in the varieties Gvozdychny and Korychny. The control plant height in this sowing time was minimal and only reached 9.9 cm. The average leaf area was also minimal and reached 3.52 cm², while in the varieties Gvozdychny and Korychny, the leaf area of the same sowing time was 2 times larger than in the control group. The smallest fluctuations in plant seedling height, depending on the seeding time, were observed in the variety Korychny, and the difference did not exceed 0.9 cm.

Seeding time impact on the leaf area size was observed in the variety Fioletovy opal variety, and the average area was maximal – 7.55-7.8 cm².

It should be noted that in all the varieties under study it was possible to obtain two harvests only when sowing took place in the third decade of April and early May. The plants of the third sowing time after the first cutting renewed very slowly due to high summer temperatures and did not manage to form the necessary vegetative weight before the end of the growing season.

The highest yield of green mass during the first cutting was received in the variety Gvozdychny of the early sowing time. The harvest weight was 8.2 t/ha, that was 5.1 % more than in the control group. The green mass of the second cutting, though smaller, exceeded the control group (10 %) as well as other varieties.

Similar in their green mass weight of the first cutting were the varieties Korychny and Fioletovy opal (7.0 and 6.9 t/ha respectively) of the first sowing time. As to the weight of the green mass of the second cutting they differed greatly. The green mass weight in the variety Korychny was three times more than in the variety in Fioletovy opal.

Sowing in early May in all the varieties led to the decrease in the green mass yield of both cuttings.

Compared to the earlier sowing time, in case of later sowing time the varieties Gvozdychny and Junga gave the same amount of the green mass, while in Korychny variety it was reduced, and in Fioletovy opal variety this index increased considerably.

In general, the total green mass yield of 13.6 t/ha was achieved in the variety Gvozdychny sown in the third decade of April. This index exceeded the control group by 10.7 %.

The results of the trial revealed that the highest dry weight share in the total herb yield was observed in Gvozdychny variety.
Dry material yield under various sowing times varied from 19.2 % to 21.4 %.

Key words: basil, seeds, sowing time, phenological phases, green mass, dry mass, yield.