Abstract
Purpose. To establish quality indicators of grass mass of the Sinyukha alfalfa variety, Constantine sainfoin variety, Sparta meadow clover by phases of growth and development of plants aimed at production of high-protein feeds. Methods. System, analysis, field, laboratory. Results. One of the important indicators that determines the quality of the green mass yield is the ratio of the mass of leaves and stems. This ratio largely determines the digestibility of feed. It was found that the foliage of legumes and the ratio of leaf mass and stems decreases from the branching to the flowering phase, which significantly affects some indicators of the biochemical composition of the mown green mass. When harvesting grasses in the early phase of branching, or in the late one of flowering of plants in the first mowing, the content of crude protein decreased from 21.0-26.3% to 14.0-17.2%, crude fat − from 3.4- 3.9% to 1.3-2.8% and crude fiber content increased from 17.5-18.0% to 25.3-27.8%, the proportion of leaf mass decreased from 46.2-48.5% to 22.3-29.9%, and stems, on the contrary, increased from 51.5-53.8% to 70.1-77.7% depending on the type of legume. Changes in the ratio of leaves and stems in the green mass during the growth and development phases of alfalfa, sainfoin and meadow clover also affected the nutritional value of fodder from these grasses. The supply of digestible protein of the feed unit decreased from 148.9-186.9 g in the branching phase to 78.5-100.2 g in the flowering phase of plants, and the content of feed units in each kilogram of dry matter of feed decreased from 0.90-0.93 to 0.57-0.66, respectively. It was found that concentration of metabolic energy in the dry matter of legumes harvested in the branching phase was 10.3-10.9 MJ/kg, and mowing them in the flowering phase led to a decrease of this indicator to 7.5-7.9 MJ/kg. Conclusions. It was found that the most high-protein and energetically nutritious food can be obtained when mowing the grass in the earlier growing season, which corresponds to the branching-budding phases. Later there observed a significant deterioration in feed quality, which is associated with a decrease in crude protein and metabolic energy and increase in crude fiber content in the dry matter of perennial legumes.
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