Cultivation of fireweed (Epilobium ngustifolium) together with nettle dioecious (Urtica dioica)

Abstract

The authors studied the possibility of cultivating fireweed in a grass mixture with nettle dioecious in the conditions of the North-Western region of the Russian Federation. It has been stated that both plants begin to grow immediately after snowmelt. The blooming phase of nettle begins simultaneously with that of fireweed. As the plants grow and develop in a grass mixture, the suppression of fireweed is noted. In the third year of life, nettle stalks were higher than those of fireweed. During the period of research, the productivity of the grass mixture was lower than that of pure fireweed plantings by 1.3 t/ha. In the single-species option, the amount of protein and the amount of metabolizable energy were 348 kg/ha and 19.5 GJ/ha respectively, which is 42 kg/ha and 2.5 GJ/ha higher than in the grass mixture. Nettle dioecious forms dense bushes in the third year of growing. Fireweed turns out to be in unfavorable conditions: its growing energy decreases, it comes into the blooming phase earlier and its suppression from the coenosis by nettle becomes evident.