Efficiency of cultivation of perennial rare forage crops in Western Siberia

Perennial rare forage crops form high yields of green mass and form a powerful root system, which is a source of organic matter involved in the formation of humus. Due to these types of forage crops in Western Siberia, it will increase the productivity of the forage wedge of the region and contribute to the restoration of soil fertility. An economic and energy assessment of 11 types of perennial rare forage crops cultivated in the forest-steppe of Western Siberia is presented. The experiment was laid on meadow-chernozem soil on the educational and experimental field of Omsk State Agrarian University in the forest-steppe of the Omsk Region. Corn was used as a control in the experiment. The economic assessment showed that the highest production costs were in the cultivation of corn, silphium perforatum and sida hermaphrodite - 14,106-14,830 rubles/t, while in the production of forage from burnet polygamous and leuzea carthamoides the costs were reduced by 1.7-2.4 times. In the crops of sida and silphium, due to the significant collection of forage units (on average over 6 years - 5.9-6.4 t/ha) and the reduction of production costs for the annual sowing of their grass stand, the highest net income was obtained - 15,394-17,524 rubles/ha, while in the cultivation of corn it was 2.1-2.4 times lower. The following crops demonstrated high economic efficiency of cultivation for forage: sida, silphium, safflower leuzea, Jerusalem artichoke, Transbaikal knotweed, forage sorrel, and burnet, where the profitability was 70-121%, compared to corn and nettle, for which this figure did not exceed 50%. An energy assessment of the cultivation of forage crops showed that all the studied rare species are energy-saving, but a high energy use coefficient (7.3-9.8) was characteristic of silphium, Transbaikal knotweed, forage sorrel, and sida; corn had the lowest energy coefficient - 3.7.