ECOLOGICAL TESTING OF PERENNIAL GRASS VARIETIES DEVELOPED BY THE NORTH CAUCASIAN FEDERAL SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURAL CENTERUNDER THE CONDITIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ALTAI

Abstract

When establishing polyspecies plant communities with the inclusion of new perennial grass species (cookshead (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.), bastard alfalfa (Medicago×varia)and yellow alfalfa (Medicago falcata), Siberian wheatgrass (Agropyrum sibiricum) and tall wheatgrass (Agropyrum elongatum)), along with the species traditional-ly grown in the Republic of Altai (red clover (Trifolium pratense), awnless brome (Bromopsis inermis Leyss.), meadow fescue grass (Festuca pratensis)and common timothy (Phleum pratense)), the following most highly pro-ductive grass mixtures were identified: three-component -common timothy + alfalfa + clover (at the ratio 60:30:10), and timothy + awnless brome+ clover (at the ratio 40:30:30); four-component -awnless brome+ fescue grass+ cookshead + clover (at the ratio 30:30:30:10), and timo-thy + fescue grass+ cookshead + alfalfa (at the ratio 30:20:20:30) that may ensure a reliable gain of dry matter yield from the second year of life to 4.80-5.57 t ha. They make it possible to obtain high-nutritional hay when har-vested during the flowering stage with metabolizable ener-gy concentration up to 9.75-10.75 MJ in 1 kg of dry matter, and with digestible protein content up to 124.2-130.8 g in 1 fodder unit.