Energy and economic efficiency of soybean cultivation

The cultivation of leguminous crops is of great importance for the national economy. They provide livestock farming with high-protein feed and the population with valuable food products. Leguminous crops improve soil fertility, increase the content of humus, easily hydrolysable nitrogen, as well as ammonia and nitrates, which is why research on improving soybean cultivation technologies is very relevant. The purpose of our research was to determine the energy and economic efficiency of soybean cultivation on chernozem soils. The research was conducted on the experimental field of the Tula Research Institute of Agriculture, a branch of the Nemchinovka Federal Research Center, in the Plavsky District of the Tula Region, from 2023 to 2025, on podzolized chernozems. In the Kofu variety, the average energy content of the crop in 2023-2025 was 14.48 GJ/ha more than in the standard variety Belgorodskaya 7, and 5.91 GJ/ha more than in the Alaska variety, and was equal to 36.54 GJ/ha. The use of high-intensity technology increased the energy content of the Alaska variety's yield by 19.78 GJ/ha compared to the basic technology. The highest energy content in soybean yields was observed in the Kofu variety, averaging 56.32 GJ/ha over the 2023-2025 period. The use of high-intensity technology increased the energy efficiency coefficient of the Kofu variety by 0.59 units compared to the basic technology. The highest energy efficiency coefficient was achieved by the Kofu variety using high-intensity technology, with an average value of 3.08 units over the period of 2023-2025. The highest net income was achieved when the Kofu variety was cultivated using a high-intensity technology, which amounted to 57,850 rubles per hectare, which is 49,050 rubles per hectare more than when the Belgorodskaya 7 variety was cultivated using the basic technology. When cultivating the Belgorodskaya 7 variety using intensive technology, the profitability increased by 19.5%. When cultivating the Belgorodskaya 7 variety using high-intensity technology, the profitability increased by 38.3%. Cultivating the Alaska variety increased the profitability by 50.2-54.6% compared to the Belgorodskaya 7 variety.