CREEPING CLOVER (TRIFOLIUM REPENS L.): BIOLOGICAL FEATURES, ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE, VARIETIES AND METHODS OF SEED PRODUCTION WHEN GROWN IN GRASS MIXTURES WITH A CEREAL COMPONENT
Creeping clover (Trifolium repens L.) is one of the best crops for creating meadow and pasture agrophytocenoses of long-term use. The biological features of this crop, such as durability, good yield, resistance to grazing, high leafiness, along with good feed quality indicators, its high protein nutritional value, make it indispensable when creating pastures not only in Russia, but also abroad. Creeping clover is one of the main components of grass mixtures for improving pastures and developing fallow lands; it is also an excellent phyto-meliorative crop that restores soil fertility. The most important problem of creeping clover seed production is harvesting due to the short stature of pasture varieties. Therefore, it is recommended to grow creeping clover for seeds in a mixture of grass together with cereal components such as perennial ryegrass, reed fescue, meadow fescue, etc. Due to the use of biological nitrogen of the legume component, energy consumption for the production of 1 kg of cereal grass seeds is reduced by 20-30% in comparison with uncoverless single-species crops. In addition to clover seeds, growing in grass mixtures allows you to get high yields of grass seeds in the second year of use without the use of nitrogen fertilizers.