The estimation of productivity and quality of sainfoin forage

Abstract

In the arid south ofRussiasainfoin is one of the key perennial legume forage grasses. It has a number of economic and biological traits and properties, such as anything goes approach to soil cultivation, drought tolerance, early maturity, stability of green mass and seed productivity; seeds don’t need any insecticides, it is convenient for growing in field crop rotation, it is a good forecrop for winter grain crops and it is used as a green manure crop. The purpose of the current study was the estimation of productivity and forage quality of the sainfoin varieties developed in theFSBSIAgriculturalResearchCenter“Donskoy” to the results, there has been found that the sainfoin varieties of theFSBSIAgriculturalResearchCenter“Donskoy” produced stable and large yields of green mass, dry matter and seeds. Throughout the years, productivity of green mass and dry matter of the sainfoin varieties “Veles”, “Sudar” and “Shuravi” varied from 30.0 t/ha to 36.5 t/ha and 8.1 t/ha to 8.3 t/ha, which was higher than that of the standard variety “Zernogradsky2”, respectively 6.5–12.5% and 8.0–10.7%. The productivity of the seeds of these varieties was 0.72–0.77 t/ha, or 9.1–16.7% higher than that of the standard variety. The largest yields among all varieties were produced by the variety “Shuravi”. The varieties “Veles”, “Sudar” and “Shuravi” exceeded the standard variety in the yields of forage units per1 haon 8.0–10.7%, raw protein on 8.1–14.1%, and digestible protein on 9.7–12.9%. Due to the larger yields of dry matter, they produced 83 430–85 490 MJ of gross energy per1 hectare.