Changes in botanical composition and productivity of perennial agrophytocenoses under triple-cutting

The article presents the results of studies on the effect of agronomic practices of legume-grass agrophytocenoses on their botanical composition and productivity under long-term triplecutting. The research method includes a field experiment on a dried, medium-cultivated, sod-podzolic, medium-loam soil. Agrophytocenosis consists of single cut clover, double cut clover, variegated alfalfa, meadow fescue, reed fescue, timothy, awnless bromegrass, perennial ryegrass. We used diammophoska to fertilize grass mixtures at the beginning of the growing season and ammonium nitrate after the first cut. The purpose of the work was to determine the effect of agronomic practices of legume-grass agrophytocenoses on the change in their botanical composition and productivity in the conditions of the European North of the Russian Federation. The scientific novelty of the research consists in studying the effect of agronomic practices on changes in the botanical composition and yield of legume-grass agrophytocenoses under three-cutting use on drained sod-podzolic soils. As a result of studies, we found that the composition of herbage varied over the years, which in turn influenced the yield of grass and the nutritional value of the resulting raw plant material. During the whole period, seeded species of grass dominated in the composition of agrophytocenoses with a decrease by the fourth year of use to 65.6-86.6%. The content of leguminous grasses was high only in the first year, then cereal species dominated in the yield. From the second year, reed fescue in variants 3, 5, 8, 9 significantly increased the share in the yield. Yield depended on the species composition of agrophytocenoses. In the first year, when leguminous species dominated, we got the highest yield of50-57 t/ha of green mass. Over four years, the yields were at the control level in grass mixtures with tall fescue (varieties 3, 5, 8, 9); agrophytocenoses with bromegrass, ryegrass, and meadow fescue were reliably 0.7-1.7 t/ha of dry matter inferior to the control. Herbage mixtures under triple-cutting exceeded those under double-cutting by 11-31% in protein collection and by 23.5-43.1% in protein content in the vegetative mass. Area of application - agricultural enterprises of the European North of the Russian Federation.