The way to solve the problem of degradation of mountain pastures of the Central Caucasus

Abstract

Abstract. The authors presented the results of research and development, on the basis of which a new device was created that facilitates the restoration of degraded mountain pastures after unsystematic use with excessive grass grazing. The purpose of the study is to develop a new method of improvement and a prototype of attachments that will allow the seeding of perennial grasses in sparse grass and bare areas of the soil, which will increase stiffness. The object of the study are the working bodies: sowing devices, the original design, scatter cones, net runners. The novelty of the technical solution lies in the fact that the authors of the article developed a new resource-saving method for improving mountain fodder land using a modernized seeder equipped with removable working bodies for automatic, targeted seed sowing, sowing seeds only in degraded and bare areas, skipping areas with normal grass stand. The tests were carried out at a mountain hospital, located on the southeastern exposition of the Dargavsky depression of the North Ossetia-Alania, at an altitude of 1650 m above sea level with a slope of 10°, in six plots, with a recorded area of 360 m2 two options in triplicate. The first option is natural seeding, and the second is the seeding of grasses by the aggregate. The plots are located across the slope randomized. It was found that at a concentration of 17.2 MJ of energy in 1 kg of dry matter of feed, the total collection in the control plot was 29.7 GJ, and in the seeded experimental field – 85.3 GJ. It was revealed that changes in the grass stand influenced the accumulation of biomass of phytocenosis. So, the crop of the aboveground fodder mass, when sowing grasses, in the first year of observations was 18.2 c/ha of dry weight, which is 5 times higher than in the control. During the growing season of the third year of observations, the yield in the sown area was 59.1 c/ha of dry weight against 17.3 c/ha in the control.