Influence of various agronomic techniques on the yield of fodder grass mixtures in the conditions of the Astrakhan region
Introduction. The solution to the problem of the deficit of complete feed for livestock farms in the South of Russia is to develop improved technological methods for cultivating perennial grasses in order to increase productivity. The purpose of the research was to study the effect of various irrigation regimes and sowing methods on the productivity of legume-bluegrass mixtures when used in multicut conditions on light chestnut soils of the Northern Caspian. Materials and methods. Two forage mixtures of grasses, two irrigation modes (60 % HB and 70 % HB), and three methods of sowing (separate-row, row and spread) were studied in the experiment. For the research, the methods of VIZH, Beideman I. N., Dospekhov B. A. were used. Results of research and discussion. According to the results of the second year of research, the following conclusions were drawn: the spread method of sowing in both grass mixtures and irrigation regimes was more productive. In the experiment with an irrigation regime of 60 % HB, the yield of grass mixtures exceeded 70.0 t/ha and amounted to 76.3 t/ha for grass mixture 1 and 78.7 t/ha for grass mixture 2. The maximum yield values were noted in the variants of the experiment with irrigation regime of 70 % HB: 97.9 t/ha for grass mixture 2 and 89.6 t/ha for grass mixture 1 when using the spread method of sowing. Conclusion. The climatic conditions of the Astrakhan region allow the cultivation of perennial fodder grass mixtures with high productivity when using the irrigation regime of 70 % HB and using the spread method of sowing.