DEPENDENCE OF THE EASTERN GALEGA AND THE LOTUS CORNICULATUS PRODUCTIVITY ON THE SEEDING METHOD

Abstract

The eastern galega (Galega orientalis) and the birds-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) are unconventional perennial leguminous crops of hay and pasture areas. Their valuable qualities include productive longevity, high quality feed, the ability to grow on acidic soils (birds-foot), drought tolerance. However, in the conditions of the Udmurt Republic, they were not widely spread due to their biological features (poor growth in the first year of life, low shade tolerance), and also due to the incomplete nature of the elements of their cultivation technology. Therefore, studies on the method of sowing of the eastern galega and the birds-foot trefoil for feed use were conducted at the Udmurt Agricultural Research Institute in 1996–2001 and in 2011–2017. The task was to study the yield of dry weight, its nutritional value and energy efficiency of cultivation of these crops, depending on the method of sowing. It was revealed that the eastern galega formed the highest dry matter yield (8.75 t/ha) when sowing in the usual ordinary way, which is 1.54-2.36 t/ha higher than in wide-row sowing (60 cm). The feed productivity of the birds-foot trefoil in both the wide-row and the ordinary row sowing was at the level of 4.8-4.9 t/ha. The analysis of plant raw materials showed a high content of crude protein (18.8–20.7% in 1 kg of dry matter), a coefficient of exchange energy of 9.78–10.02, a feed units content of 0.79–0.82 and digestible protein 110-123 in 1 feed unit. The coefficient of energy efficiency in the usual ordinary way of sowing an eastern galega was 7.5, and the birds-foot trefoil was 4.7.