Annual or perennial forage grasses -valuable crops grown for animal feed. They are distinguished by good yield, nutritional value and have a very important and versatile value in strengthening the food supply. They are grown for green fodder, silage, haylage, hay, grass meal and as pasture crops.
Fodder grass is a valuable feed because it containscontains proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, various vitamins and minerals that are so necessary for the normal development and growth of animals. Its economic value depends on the nutritional value, yield, palatability of livestock, as well as the prevalence in different regions.
Types of forage grasses
More than 80 species of this crop are cultivated in our country, and about 5,000 grow on natural areas.
All grasses are divided into 4 groups:
- legumes;
- cereal;
- sedge;
- forbs.
For the duration of life the grass feed can be annual and perennial.
Legume family
Bean forage on our forage landsThe country is found in small quantities, but has rather high feed properties: the culture is rich in protein and is well eaten by animals. The most common are clover (red, white, pink), horned bird wedding, yellow alfalfa, meadow ranch, etc.
Grass family
This group is common to almost allzones (except for the desert) and gives most of the pasture forage or hay (often up to 80-90%). Most cereals have high fodder value, especially in their young state. During the period of haymaking during drying, these herbs are well preserved leaves, which are the most valuable parts. The most widespread are such cereals as feather grass, creeping couch grass, spiny grass and others.
Sedge grass
This group of herbs includes plants fromfamilies of rush and sedge. These crops are considered of low value in terms of feed and are rather poorly eaten by animals, but in the northern regions of the forest zone they often constitute the main part of hay (water sedge, slim sedge and others). And in the desert and semi-desert many sedges are valuable forage plants.
Herbs
This group includes all the rest.botanical plant families. Herbs - meadow grass fodder, which can sometimes be up to 60-70% of herbage. The main part of them is of great economic importance. Plants from this group are more nutritious than grasses, but most of them are much worse eaten by animals because of their bitter taste, prickle, pubescence, etc. Small content of grasses (cuffs, dandelion, cumin, etc.) in the herbage (up to 20%) - desirable impurity, since it contributes to the improvement of the mineral composition of the feed and its consumption by livestock.
A large number of grasses of this group in grassy haying is extremely undesirable, because:
- it replaces the more valuable legumes and cereals;
- among raznotravya there are many weedy (field bindweed, yellow thistle, and others) and poisonous (poisonous ranunculus, hellebore, milestones poisonous, aconite, etc.) plants.
Forage annual grasses
The peculiarity of annual forage grasses is thattheir development cycle ends within a year, and they die off. Sown for greenery for feeding, silage, as well as for concentrated feed. Annual grasses give high yields of green mass, have a fairly high nutritional value, have a short growing season.
Due to the fact that the cutting of ripeness of plants occurs in about 50-60 days, these crops are indispensable in intermediate crops, in a busy pair.
Annual grasses are divided into two types:
- legumes;
- bluegrass (cereal).
Annual legume forage crops are sown in early spring. The most valuable plants are vetch spring and winter, a row, fodder lupine, seradella.
Grain annual herbs are more thermophilic, theirplanted in a well-heated soil for sowing early spring grain crops. The most valuable are: Sudan grass, Mogar, sorghum, ryegrass annual, Chumiza, African millet and others.
Perennial grass fodder
Perennial forage grasses are herbaceous sowing plants whose life expectancy is more than one year. Grown for animal feed.
The culture includes more than 50 species of plants.They are sown most often in the form of grass mixture, which has a positive impact on the quality of feed and soil fertility. Clean crops are also sown and cultivated pastures outside the crop rotation.
In the first year of life, perennial herbsgrow quite slowly, grow weeds and can produce low yields. Therefore, they are recommended to be sown after grain or tilled grain crops, in fertilized with compost or manure soil.
Perennial fodder herbs are also divided into:
- Meat grass (cereal).The most common: timothy, bezosti bonfire, pasture ryegrass, miner, high ryegrass, bluegrass meadow grass, ryegrass ryegrass, wheatgrass wheatgrass, hedgehog team, white bred, meadow fescue and red foxtail and others.
- Bean grasses: alfalfa, white clover, red clover, pink clover, sainfoin, horned bridle.
To create a highly productive herbage it is necessary to carry out the main agrotechnical methods of cultivation of culture.
Kozlyatnik
Козлятник относится к многолетнему травянистому plant legumes family. Stem branched upright, usually reaches a height of 1 m, and on fertile soils can grow up to 1.5 m. The root system has a core type, grows up to 80 cm in depth. On the main root several offspring are formed. At first they develop horizontally up to 30 cm, then they emerge and form new stems.
The leaves of the plant are pinnate petiolate, up to 30 cm long.
Kozlyatnik - grass fodder with pale purpleor blue flowers, like bells, which are collected in the brush-inflorescence. 3-5 pieces can be formed on each stem. Fruiting occurs in September and October. Beans of small size (2-4 cm in length), dark orange, almost brown, in fruits 3-7 seeds. Goat Meat differs in rather slow growth, and if it does not grow to 20 cm in height until the autumn, its harvesting is most often transferred to the following year.
Seeds are able to maintain the quality of germination up to 8 years.
Goat Meat is a frost-resistant plant that can tolerate even very severe winters.
There are 2 known species of this plant: Oriental goat's goose (forage grass) and medicinal.
Annual ryegrass
Очень ценное кормовое растение, дающее Good green fodder and hay. Green mass contains 3.2% protein, 2.3% protein, 8% fiber. It is eagerly eaten by livestock, in addition, it is a good feed for domestic birds. The hay of one-year ryegrass is not inferior in nutritional properties to hay from moghara, Sudan grass, and other cereals. Animals eat straw well. The annual yield of hay is about 7-8 t / ha, green mass up to 20-30 t / ha, seeds - 0.5-0.6 t / ha.
The ryegrass one-year-old has a high margingrowing season gives 2-3 mowing. After the second mowing, the growing aftermath can be used as a pasture forage until the deepest autumn, since it tolerates autumnal light frosts well.
Donnik
This is an unpretentious one-year or two-yearlegumes that can grow in the poorest, sandy, stony and clay soils, as well as in those areas where there is no fertile layer. Melilot plant is not afraid of saline and sodic soils, but does not tolerate acidic marsh and swimming heavy land, with a close location of groundwater. The root system is powerful and well developed, so that this grass is able to give a good harvest in arid zones where other fodder crops burn out. With enough rain, the yield of green mass can reach up to 7-8 t / ha.
Plant clover successfully used not only for food, but also for green fertilizer.
Seeds germinate at a temperature of from 2 to 50 ° C, seedlings can withstand frosts of -6 ...- 5 ° C, and some frost-resistant two-year-old varieties are not afraid of frost up to 40 ° C.
The clover is a valuable high-protein food plant, which nutritionally is not inferior to clover, alfalfa and sainfoin. It can often be found in the meadows, wastelands, roadsides.
It is drought resistant, frost resistant and resistant.to diseases and pests the plant is suitable for greenery, silage and harvesting hay. Can grow both in grass mixtures and independently.
Clover white
Grows well on sandy, loamyslightly acidic or neutral soils. In the first year, the grass (clover) is able to bloom and produce seeds. In the second year of life comes full development. At one place can grow up to 9-10 years.
The grass (clover) is moisture and sun-loving, frost-resistant. It grows best in regions with a humid cool climate, where there is no drought.
Sowing white clover is an excellent feeda plant that contains a lot of protein. Tapping with cattle during grazing does not inhibit the plant, but, on the contrary, contributes to its better growth. Planting this legume improves soil fertility. Its inclusion in the composition of grass mixture with timothy grass, ryegrass and other plants contributes to the improvement of the forage quality of pasture grass - the content of protein, phosphorus, fat, calcium, potassium increases and reduces the level of fiber. The yield of green mass in the meadows is about 60-120 centners / ha, hay is about 18-35 centners / ha, seeds 3.0-5.0 q / ha.
Alfalfa
This is a perennial grass forage of the legume family.It is used both as green fodder and for obtaining high-quality hay. Alfalfa seeds are also used for medicinal purposes. Culture improves soil structure and also enriches soil with nitrogen, destroys weeds.. It has a high drought resistance and winter hardiness. In the herbage can hold up to 10 years and even more. After cutting, grows slowly.
This grass feed prefers black soil, forest-steppe loam, brown and chestnut gray soil and other lime-rich soils. Alfalfa grows poorly in swampy and heavy clay soils.
This plant contains many vitamins and protein. It is well digested by herbivores. Alfalfa seeds are sown both in pure form and as a mixture.
