Abstract
Grass-leguminous mixtures and pure crops are important for ensuring of sufficient quantities of high quality roughage, especially in conditions of low land livestock production, in conditions of farm housing system as well as in the system of free grazing of animals. Studies were carried out on pure crops of three grass species and their mixtures with different component ratios. Fertilization using different doses of nitrogen led to considerable increase of yield of pure crops and their mixtures. The highest yields were recorded in treatment with 100 kgN ha- 1, and the lowest yield in treatment without fertilization. Fertilization led to decrease of share of alfalfa, meadow fescue and perennial ryegrass in dry matter, and increased the content of cocksfoot. The highest protein yield of pure crops was recorded for perennial ryegrass - 495.5, and in mixtures, the highest protein yield was recorded for four component mixture of alfalfa, cocksfoot, meadow fescue and perennial ryegrass of 568.0 kg ha-1. Fertilization with N increased protein yield considerably in pure crops as well as in their mixtures.
Highlights
Grass-leguminous mixtures, as well as pure crops, are important for production of roughage of good quality, especially in low land livestock production, in conditions of farm housing system as well as in the system of free grazing of animals
The highest DM yield was recorded for perennial grass in pure crop (5.53 t ha-1), and the lowest in pure alfalfa crop (2.71 t ha-1), which can be explained by agro-climatic conditions which favoured growth of grasses in the period of first cut
The highest yield was recorded in the four component mixture of alfalfa, cocksfoot, meadow fescue and perennial ryegrass (4.49 t ha-1), and the lowest in mixture of alfalfa and cocksfoot (3.48 t ha-1)
Summary
Grass-leguminous mixtures, as well as pure crops, are important for production of roughage of good quality, especially in low land livestock production, in conditions of farm housing system as well as in the system of free grazing of animals. Alfalfa is forage leguminous plant most often used in animal nutrition (Radović et al, 2009). It is often cultivated in mixture with one or several grass species: Timothy grass, meadow fescue or cocksfoot (Jönsson, 1982). Growing of alfalfa and other leguminous plants in mixtures with grasses has many advantages, such as possibility for their use by grazing, i.e. use of fresh plants, which reduces the risk of incidence of bloat (Ocokoljić et al, 1984), reduces the weed infestation of crops, ensures better conservation of water and mineral matters in the soil (Lazaridou et al, 2006) and enables more successful ensiling because of higher sugar content (Đorđević and Dinić, 2003, 2005). In studies by Ocokoljić et al (1974) fertilization influenced significantly the increase of crude protein content in mixture of alfalfa and cocksfoot by 17,6 %
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