Due to worsening environment worldwide, a constant need in the products grown by organic farmers has become the recent trend in agriculture. This trend will deepen and broaden as it is reinforced by economic profits that organic farmers obtain. The result of organic farming is ecologically safe products. Therefore, introduction of organic farming is relevant to this day, particularly millet production because the crop serves as dietary raw material in producing health food.

Our research deals with the development and improvement of the main elements of the biological variety technique of millet production in the Right Bank Forrest-steppe zone in Ukraine. The aim of the research was to determine the optimal weed control technique in millet used in organic farming, and to study the inoculation effect on growth, yield capacity and quality in seeds of the millet varieties under study. The research was carried out in field and laboratory environment.

The study showed that the most efficient weed suppression technique is row space mulching with plastic film and used mycelium. In these cases, the weed contamination was respectively 40.9 % and 34.8 % less compared to the control variant (with zero weed suppression).

The study demonstrated that millet production without weed control resulted in weed contamination amounting to 76.5–85.5 pcs/m², while in case of tillage application in crop protection (row space tillage) this index was 52.5–61.5; in row space mulching with sawdust – 49.5−58.0; mulching with used mycelium – 48.5−58.0; mulching with plastic film – 44.0−52.5; chemical weed control (control variant) 36.0−44.5 pcs/m².

The weed components in millet growing were mainly presented by spring early and late biological species, which grow simultaneously with the crop, and they included Setaria glauca (L.)Pal. Beauv. – 20.9 %, Echinochloa crus-galli (L.)Pal. Beauv. − 18.4 %, Chenopodiumalbum L. − 13.5 %, Amaranthus retroflexus L. − 11.9 %, Cirsium arvense L. − 10.2 %, Sinapis arvensis L. − 9.8 %, Polygonum lapathifolium L. − 4.9 %, Polygonum convolvulus L. – 4.1 %, etc.

The weed quantity in millet ranged in different years of the trial. In 2014−2015 it was 58.8 pcs/m² (in 2014 – 67.1 pcs/m², in 2015 – 50.5 pcs/m²).

The chemical weed control with the herbicide Prima (control variant) was effective in controlling such weeds as Sinapis arvensis L., Polygonum lapathifolium L., Polygonum convolvulus L., Chenopodiumalbum L., Amaranthus retroflexus L., etc; but at the same time it was not effective against Setaria glauca (L.)Pal. Beauv. and Echinochloa crus-galli (L.)Pal. Beauv. The overall share of suppressed weed was 50.8 %.

Mulching with plastic film prevented row-space weed growth, while it did not protect the crop in rows. The weed number was 9.9 % less in comparison with the chemical weed management and was 40.9 %.

The weed number under mulching with used mycelium amounted to 34.8 % compared to the control variant without weed control. This technique suppressed almost completely weed growth in row space and was less effective against weeds growing within the rows.

The weed number under mulching with sawdust was 34.3 % less in comparison with the absolute control variant. This technique, similar to the previous one (mulching with used mycelium), was fairly effective and weed growth was controlled both in rows and beyond.

In case of tillage technique application the index of the crop protection amounted to 30.1 %. This method suppressed up to 80 % row-space weeds. It should be mentioned that the tillage technique does not control weeds within the millet rows.

The weed vegetation weight was the highest in the pre-harvesting period. During the trial period the average index was 1210 g/m²; i.e. in 2015 it was 1181 g/m², and in 2014 – 1244 g/m².

The dry weed weight also ranged considerably and depended on the ontogenesis phases and weed biological features. While in most weed species in the phase of their vegetation mass formation the dry weight index was about 18−22 %, in the seed maturation phase it was 35–43 %.

Compared to the greater part of weeds, millet is not so viable; in case of density index of 53.2 to 226.4 pcs/m², the above-ground herbage weight was up to 1210 g/m². The weed suppression techniques that were applied in the trial limited their capacity of forming the above-ground raw herbage, which was 85.3−350.6 % in comparison with the absolute control variant (without weed control).

Further studies in the area of biologization of millet production technique should focus on the determination of the most effective weed control technique in agrobiocenosis, as well as the application of the preparation of natural origin Hetomik and its efficiency in weed suppression and seed inoculation. In the future, such research could help to solve the need of providing the consumers with safe dietary products, and also contribute to lowering the level of chemical contamination of the environment.

Key words: millet, variety, seed inoculation, weed control technique, weed contamination.