The dynamics of the sowed herb density depending on the fertilization

Abstract

To confidently compete in the area of livestock products on domestic and especially on the world market, it is necessary to significantly reduce their cost by using low-cost technologies for the production of high-quality feed staff. It is known that feed staff of own production is only 80‒85 % balanced by digestive protein in the vast majority of our farms, which leads to their overspending by 30 % or more by the milk and meat production. The quality can be improved and the cost of fodder can be reduced by growing perennial herbs and, in particular, legumes and grass mixtures.

It is known that an essential prerequisite for a high yield of perennial herbs in the sown meadow phytocenosis is a dense standing grass crop, which depends on many anthropogenic factors.

Three-year studies carried out in the conditions of the Western Forest-Steppe on dark gray podzolic gleyed, weakly washed soil showed that the density of perennial sown legume-cereal grasses varies under the influence of the selection of perennial cereal and leguminous grasses and their fertilizers.

The greatest density of the standing grass crop was observed in the grass mix, where such legumes as hybrid clover and common bird's-foot trefoil, or red and hybrid clover were sown together with such cereals as orchard grass, perennial ryegrass, and timothy-grass. Here, 1025‒1240 and 986‒1305 pieces of vegetative shoots were counted per 1 m². Standing grass crop accounted 57.6‒79.9 % of cereal herbs. Legumes accounted only 15.3‒38.6 % and herbs ‒ 2.6‒5.3 %.

The most favorable conditions for tillering in cereal grasses were created when fertilizing cereal-leguminous grass-stand with full mineral fertilizers at the rate of N₆₀P₆₀K₉₀, leguminous – when fertilizing only with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers P₆₀K₉₀.

The alienation of the first hay cutting in standing grass crop contributed to an increase in shoots by 70‒226 pieces per 1 m² due to more intensive branching of legume components and their percentage in the second hay cutting increased to 17.4‒51.1 % compared to 15.3‒38.4 % in the first. The most vegetative shoots of leguminous grasses were observed in all herbal mixtures on the non-fertilized version and the version fertilized with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers at the rate of Р₆₀К₉₀, cereals – on the N₆₀Р₆₀К₉₀ fertilized with full mineral fertilizers. The same pattern with the density dynamics of the sown standing grass crop was observed in the third hay cutting.

Of the three years of research, the largest decrease (by 41.5‒35.8%) in the density of grasses occurred in the second year of use.