3 rd INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM FOR AGRICULTURE AND FOOD – ISAF 2017 __________________________________________________________________________________ 203 THE EFFECTS OF USING DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO SEEDLINGS Romina Kabranova 1, Zlatko Arsov 1 , Karolina Kochoska 2 , Robin Mavroski 2 1 Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food in Skopje, Macedonia 2 St.Kliment Ohridski University of Bitola, Scientific Tobacco Institute-Prilep, Macedonia Corresponding author: rkabranova@yahoo.co.uk Abstract Tobacco is an economically important crop in Macedonia. To improve tobacco production is necessary good agricultural practice, which also involves the implementation of new technologies for production of tobacco seedlings. The Floating Trays System (FTS) is an advanced plant growing technology, which is particularly important when it comes to the resistance of tobacco plants and adaptation to a new environment (unavoidable physiological stress after transplantation). It represents an environmentally acceptable technology that allows respectively management chemicals and decreasing the risks of pollution on the humans and environmental management, as well as the establishment of sustainable development at the global level. FTS also provides a high yield and high quality of tobacco. Allows maximum use of dissolved nutrients, so plants form a strong root system and have a rapid development after transplantation. Further development of strong stems enables the formation of an adequate number of leaves even in unfavorable climatic conditions for tobacco, and synthesizes and accumulates more dry mass per plant. The experiment was set in a randomized block system in four repetitions on two oriental tobacco cultivars (prilep NS 72 and yaka YV 125/3), each in three variants: variant 1-control (conventional system of production); variant 2-N and variant 3-P (the soilless system using Floating Trays). Among the systems evaluated, the soilless system is technically the most successful and innovative which represents a technological progress for producing uniform seedlings for their quick formation in the field and to establish more homogeneous plantations. The results obtained in this trial showed significant differences among the tested variants. Keywords: Tobacco seedlings quality, floating system versus conventional. Introduction The production of oriental tobacco in Macedonia has a very long tradition. Tobacco is one of the most economically important agricultural crops in the country. To produce high-quality tobacco, growers must begin with healthy seedlings. The ideal seedling is disease free, hardy enough to survive transplanting shock, and available for transplanting on time. In general, earlier transplanted seedlings give better yield than late-transplanted tobacco (Smith et al., 2003). During the vegetation, a large number of factors have an impact on the tobacco that allow or interfere on the tobacco plant to express its biological and production potentials. Except the biological potential of the varieties, the largest influences have taken scientific farming methods and agro ecological conditions during the growing season. Each type of tobacco, variety, requires separate intervention depending on the intensity of biotic agents, soil and climatic conditions, as well as cultural, traditional practices in one area. Macedonian production is traditionally the production of oriental type of tobacco. The production of oriental tobacco in Macedonia is located almost in all regions, soils with weaker productivity. For successful production, there must be a good quality of tobacco seedlings, to obtain uniformity according to morphological and biological characteristics of tobacco at field. After transplanting in the field tobacco plants for a few days survives a so-called transplantation shock because of unfavorable external conditions. This change is very insignificant in terms of seedlings