Productivity and nutritional value of aboveground biomass of annual crops in companion sowings

Abstract

In order to develop stable feed agrophytocenoses, the most promising and low-cost direction in feed production is the cultivation of companion sowings. In order to study the productivity of complex cenoses of annual feed crops together with soybean there were field trials laid on the experimental plots of the FSBSI Russian Research and Project-technological Institute of sorghum and maize “Rossorgo” in 2015–2017. The purpose of the current study was to substantiate scientifically and practically the development of highly productive agrophytocenoses of annual feed crops in companion sowings with soybean. The analysis of green and dry biomass productivity values showed that in singlemillet species crops, the productivity was higher than in companion sowings with soybean, this is explained by the lower productivity of the legume component. The highest mean productivity of aboveground biomass for three years of study (18.84 t/ha) was given by Japanese millet in its pure form. Siberian and Italian millet formed mean productivity of 16.13 and 15.60 t/ha, respectively. The current paper has presented data on productivity and has studied feed advantages of single-species and two-species sowings. The introduction of soybean in the composition of companion sowings has increased the protein percentage on 26.75–30.78% in dry biomass of feed mixtures in comparison with single-species crops. Aboveground biomass of complex agrocenoses contained more oil, ash and less fiber. According to the variants of the trial, the oil content varied from 2.15 to 5.40%, with the maximum amount identified in soybean in its pure form (5.40%), and the minimum value of this trait was obtained in Japanese millet in its pure form (2.15%). It is worth noting that it is advisable to cultivate annual crops for feed purposes together with soybean, since the feed value of the cutting mass significantly improves.