Improving old-age hayfi elds in the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia

Abstract

The results of research on the improvement of old-age hayfi elds in the forest-steppe zone of Western Siberia carried out in 2016–2020 were presented. A grass mixture of perennial leguminose grasses was sown, consisting of alfalfa (Medicago varia Mart.) of the Siberian variety 8, meadow clover (Trifolium pratense L.) of SibNIIK variety 10 and sandy esparcet (Onobrychis arenaria D.S.) of SibNIIK variety 41. The largest number of cereal plants (77,3 %) was in the variant with disking in 1 trace without sowing. The largest number of perennial leguminose grasses (86,5 %) was observed in the variant with a radical improvement of old-age hayfi elds and ordinary sowing of a mixture of perennial leguminose grasses. In the botanical composition of the herbage of old–age hayfi elds, the proportion of diff erent grasses with various turf treatments and sowing of perennial leguminose grasses decreased from 19,4 to 9,4–12,9 %. The highest yield of green and dry mass was obtained in a variant with a radical improvement and ordinary sowing of the grass mixture of perennial leguminose grasses. The yield of green mass was 12,09 and dry one 3,51 t/ ha. The amount of digestible protein per 1 feed unit was 111 g. Slightly inferior in yield was the option with a strip sowing of the grass mixture of perennial leguminose grasses. The yield of green and dry mass was 10,02 and 2,91 t/ha, respectively. The amount of digestible protein per 1 feed unit was 106 g. The lowest yield was obtained in the control version of the fi eld experiment (old-age hayfi eld). The yield of green and dry mass was 3,28 and 1,02 t/ha, respectively. The amount of digestible protein per 1 feed unit was 85 g. There was no butyric acid in the haylage of perennial grasses of improved old-age hayfi eld. The sum of lactic and acetic acids was small and amounted to 1,01–2,35 %, which indicates the high quality of the haylage mass obtained. It has been established that the most energetically advantageous option among the methods of improving old–age hayfi elds is strip sowing of the grass mixture of perennial leguminose grasses. Thus, among the considered methods of improving old-age hayfi elds, strip sowing of perennial leguminose grasses turned out to be the most energetically advantageous.