Methods of improvement of degraded haymaking fields in the forest-steppe of the Ob river region

Abstract

The results of investigations on the formation of high-yielding haymaking fields with the sowing of perennial legumes with different methods of processing the sod of degraded hayfields have been presented in the paper. The purpose of the work was to determine the most effective methods that contribute to increasing the yield and feed quality of degraded haymaking. The most effective methods that contribute to increasing the yield, feed quality and productive longevity of degraded haymaking have been determined. The content of perennial legumes in the herbage was registered: in the variant with plowing of turf it was 88 %, with milling – 80, with disking – 70 %. The highest yield has been obtained on the variant with the radical improvement 17,3 t/ha herbage and 3,64 t/ha of dry weight, which exceeded the indicators of the control variant by 3,6 times. It has been revealed that with the radical improvement of degraded haymaking (plowing + disking), the yield of feed units reached 1,74 t/ha, digestible protein – 0,25 t/ha, the amount of digestible protein per 1 feed unit was 140 g. These indicators during the sod disking were: 1,55 t/ha, 0,22 t/ha and 135 g, respectively. When strip-seeding of perennial legumes, the variant with the width of the treated strip of 60 cm has been distinguished. The collection of feed units amounted to 1,61 t/ha, of digestible protein – 0,18 t/ha. In the control variant (degraded haymaking), the collection of feed units was 0,38 t/ha, of digestible protein-0,025 t/ha. An economic assessment of the methods of improving degraded haymaking has shown that strip sowing of perennial legumes turned out to be the most effective method of improvement in the forest-steppe zone in Western Siberia. The net income depending on the option of strip sowing amounted to 3751–4278 rubles/ha, the level of profitability – 71–87 %. During the radical improvement, the economic indicators were slightly lower – 3959 rubles/ha and 57 %, respectively.