Cultivation of Legume and Gramineous Grass Mixtures for Use on Hayfields and Pastures of Southern Sakhalin

Abstract

Nowadays due of the world population growth, the demand for agricultural products is also growing. To obtain good meat and dairy products, high-quality feed for farm animals is necessary. Legume-gramineous perennial grass mixtures are used to improve fodder lands. Our experience included a test of 9 variants of legume-gramineous grass mixtures, where 6 types of grasses were used: red clover, alfalfa (legumes), meadow timothy grass, orchard-grass, smooth brome-grass, meadow fescue (cereals). The experiments were carried out in four repetitions on the lands of hay and pasture use with the use of fertilizers; there were carried out phenological observations, biometric measurements, and determination of the botanical composition. In herbage from hay fields the smooth brome-grass dominated, and in herbage from pastures the orchard-grass dominated. The proportion of non-sown grass species reaches 26.3-32.7 % in three-component grass mixtures with meadow timothy grass. Meadow fescue and meadow timothy in terms of growth rate, reactions to nitrogen application were inferior to the orchard-grass and smooth bromegrass, which led to their oppression and displacement from the herbage. The best density of plant standing per 1 m2 was noted in the orchard-grass and smooth bromegrass, the smallest - in meadow fescue and alfalfa.