STATE OF SEED PRODUCTION AND AGRO-ENERGY EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT OF RED FESCUE SEED PRODUCTION

Abstract

Red fescue (Festuca rubra L.) it is one of the most popular crops for creating lawns of various types and as a component of meadow and pasture poly-species mixtures of long-term use. The volume of domestic production of seeds of this crop is less than 2% of the total sales of seed material on the Russian market. The wide expansion of imported seeds of foreign-selected varieties to the domestic market sharply raises the question of the need to develop seed production of this crop in Russia. To do this, it is necessary to intensify breeding for the development of new varieties of red fescue, the development of zonal technologies for cultivating them for seeds. Analysis and generalization of research results shows that when using a set of optimal agricultural techniques, it is possible to consistently receive seed collections of more than 0.4 t/ha. This level of seed yield ensures high profitability of production and recoupment of energy costs. Assessment of the energy efficiency of technologies for cultivation of red fescue pasture-lawn ecotype shows that the total energy consumption per 1 ha of seed was 17.7 GJ, per 1 kg of seeds – 68.2 MJ. Due to the increase in yield by 44.4% and the use of energy-saving techniques, energy savings per 100 kg of seeds amounted to 25.6%. The energy assessment showed that as a result of harvesting seed crops by direct threshing in the optimal time frame, total energy costs decreased by 19%, and energy consumption for fuel – by 29%.