Efficiency of disking in combination with other agro-techniques at surface improvement of old-seeded meadows in the north-west of Russia

Creation of a solid fodder base is the key to further development of dairy cattle breeding in the NorthWest region of Russia. Old-seeded meadow grasslands characterized by low productivity and poorquality species composition remain an important reserve for obtaining universal raw materials for grass fodder in farms. The aim of the work is to study different agro-techniques for improving the old-seeded cereal grass, created on the basis of meadow foxtail without destroying the old turf. The research direction was formed based on the analysis of scientific literature and the results of experimental material of the Department of Meadow Farming of Leningrad Institute of Agricultural Mechanization (LIAM)-Saint Petersburg State Agrarian University (SPSAU). The research method included experiments on the basis of field and laboratory experiments to study the effectiveness of agronomic practices on old-seeded meadow foxtail grass according to generally accepted methods. For realization of the set task, we used disc harrow BDN-1,5 with a pass in 2 traces. Mechanical treatment of turf by disking promotes the strengthening of vegetative reproduction by cutting underground plagiotropic shoots of the rhizomatous grass meadow foxtail, which, in turn, stimulates the regrowth of new orthotropic shoots and leads to the rejuvenation of the original grass stand without the use of expensive seeds of perennial grasses. Disking was carried out once during three years of research, in the following 2 years, we studied the aftereffect of this technical method. The obtained experimental data convincingly prove a sharp increase in the proportion of meadow foxtail in the grass, especially in the first 2 years of research: on the control without disking its content was 37%, and on the prodisked variant - 62.0% in the year of treatment, in the second year the pattern is the same: 33 and 57%. By the third year, the efficiency of mechanical treatment sharply weakens. Application of mineral fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers, on the background of discing, contributed not only to the increase in the of valuable forage grasses in the herbage, but also their preservation during all three years of research, and provided an increase in yield by 37-62%. The obtained results of research on complex application of agro-applications on old-seeded meadow foxtail have certain scientific novelty and can serve as an important supplement for the development and implementation of measures for the improvement of old-seeded meadows, in the grass of which rhizomatous and loose-bush cereals are preserved about 30% of the total mass.