AGROTECHNOLOGY FOR FEED CULTIVATION AND CREATION OF HAYFIELDS AND PASTURES IN THE FOREST AND STEPPE ZONE OF NORTHERN KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

A high-quality feed base is a must to ensure the growing of numerous animals via selecting promising high-yielding crops that can provide livestock with feeds at the entire production stage. This study purposed to develop new technologies for reinstating a balanced use of pastures in Kazakhstan’s steppe and forest-steppe zones. Several investigations succeeded in 2019–2022 at the Service-ZHARS Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) production fields of District Kyzylzhar, North Kazakhstan. Five chosen pasture combinations created multifactor pasture lands, as follows: common alfalfa + Festulolium; awnless brome + yellow sweet clover; common alfalfa + pasture ryegrass + Festulolium; white sweet clover + awnless brome + Timothy grass, and sainfoin + Festulolium + pasture ryegrass + Timothy grass. For haymaking and pasture chain construction, the following grass combinations selected comprised two-pasture grasses (previous years' brome and Timothy grass + common alfalfa + sainfoin) and seven hay grasses (vetch + oats, Sudan grass, sorghum-Sudan grass hybrid + sorghum, corn for silage, sorghum, peas + oats + barley + wheat, and peas). The use of droughtresistant legumes, cereals, and arable crops and their mixtures positively impacted intensifying the feed base and reducing the pasture areas’ degradation. Thus, in the first experiment, the green mass collection was higher than 3.33 t ha-1 , while in the second one, it was below 4.75 t ha-1 , which fully bestowed the physiological needs of animals. The species diversity of pasture vegetation has improved because of beans’ inclusion, possibly enhancing the protein ratio in green feed and hay as the main component of the farm animals' diet.