Perennial grasses of the legume family (Fabaceaes L.) – as the main basis for the development of fodder production in the Non-Black Earth Region (review)

Abstract

Perennial herbs of the Legume family (Fabaceaes L.) are able to provide livestock with valuable feed. To obtain highquality feed for highly productive dairy and beef cattle, different species and cultivars of the family are tested in various regional soil, climatic and agrotechnological conditions of the territory. This article provides an overview of 64 published scientific papers by Russian researchers, mainly over the past 20 years, on the study of the main biological and ecological characteristics and productivity of species and cultivars depending on their cultivation area in the Northern, Northwestern, Central, Volga-Vyatka and Ural economic regions of the Non-Chernozem zone of Russia. It has been established that perennial grasses of the Legume family are cosmopolitan due to the good moisture content of the soil of the territory and the low demands of plants for heat. Cultivation of different types and varieties allows you to get cheap, high-yielding bulky feed (hay, haylage, silage). The quality indicators of feed are influenced by the level of energy and protein saturation, which varies depending on the type, variety of legumes, methods of use (pasture, mowing) and the time of harvesting of herbage. The low protein content in animal feed leads to a deterioration in digestibility, a decrease in feed intake and a weakening of the nutritional parameters of milk and meat. The advantages of species and cultivars of legumes vary greatly depending on the soil and climatic conditions of the areas of cultivation, which does not allow us to draw an unambiguous conclusion about the value of a particular species and variety, to guarantee an annual harvest for forage. This review may be useful for organizations engaged in the search for species and varieties of the Legume family that are more adapted to environmental factors to justify the expediency of their use in production for feed purposes.