Forage grass stand productivity with Galega orientalis of domestic varieties in the first year of use in the Leningrad region

This article deals with the issues of creating grass stands on the basis of a promising legume species of Galega orientalis when used for forage purposes on sod-carbonate soil in the conditions of the Leningrad Region. Galega orientalis has a significant disadvantage associated with extremely slow development and low productivity in the first years of life despite its high productive longevity in contrast to other legume species. Therefore, the aim of the research is to study the dynamics of productivity of grass stands with this legume species in the first two years of use. In the experiments, which were laid in 2021 and 2022, we compared two Russian varieties Krivich and Yalginsky and three seeding rates: 5, 3.75 and 2.5 million seeds per hectare. Seeding was carried out in pure form and in a mixture with timothy (variety Leningradskaya 204). Galega orientalis as a winter species is characterized by very slow development not only in the first year of life, even in the second year this tendency is quite clear: experimental grass stands were characterized by high weeding, especially single-species (up to 76-97%). Joint sowing of Galega of both varieties contributed to less weeding of the created grass stands. The yields of the studied grass stands indicate a slow increase in the productive potential of Galega orientalis of both varieties in the second year of life - from 4.9 to 8.5 t/ha of dry weight both in Experiment 1 and in Experiment 2. Only in the third year of life or the second year of use experimental grass stands created with the use of the studied varieties provided a full economic yield - from 10.8 to 19.7 t/ha of dry mass depending on the seeding rate.