EFFICIENCY AND FEED VALUE OF FESTULOLIUM-BASED GRASS STANDS IN THE UPPER VOLGA REGION
Results of long-term researches on ways of creation of long - term highly productive legume-cereal grass stands on the basis of uncommon for the Ivanovo region culture-Festulolium are presented. As a result of research, for the first time in the region, an adaptive technology of cultivation of perennial grasses in mixed crops with the participation of this culture has been developed, which provides a balanced sugar-protein ratio of high quality feed and increases soil fertility. The main indicators of the technology: high adaptability to soil and climatic conditions, consistently high yields, balance and high nutritional value of green mass, increasing soil fertility due to the accumulation of a significant amount of biological residues and nitrogen, especially symbiotic, efficiency and effectiveness. The average for three years in a single crop Festulolium was characterized by the highest yield of fodder units among perennial grasses and have provided 3,88 thousand/ha of fodder units in the control and of 5.98 thousand/ha on the background of mineral nutrition. In the conditions of the upper Volga region, in order to increase the production of high quality ready-made feed, it is necessary to grow grass mixtures consisting of festulolium and basic perennial legumes, such as clover and alfalfa, variable in a ratio of 1:1, which provide a yield of green mass depending on the level of nutrition from 412 to 571 kg/ha, the collection offodder units from 6.63 to 8.99 thousand units/ha, digestible protein from 756 to 1024 kg/ha. The effectiveness of the technology is determined by low cost, high level of profitability up to 500% and cost recovery - 4-5 rubles./1 rubles costs, as well as environmental friendliness.