Productivity and nitrogen-fixing ability of goat 's-rue and cereal grass mixtures in Western Siberia

A priority area for the development of fodder production in Siberia is to increase the sowing area of legumes and legume-cereal mixtures up to 65-70% of the area of perennial grasses. The research was carried out in the southern forest-steppe zone of the Omsk Region on lixivious chernozem and meadow-chernozem soil. It has been established that legume-cereal mixtures with the participation of goat’s-rue are more productive than in case of single-crop sowing. Among fallow grass mixtures of goat’s-rue with cereals, the most productive (7.10 t/ha of dry matter) is the combination of goat’s-rue and bromegrass, with an increase of 35% if compared to the control sample. The inclusion of melilot in the composition of grass mixtures with goat’s-rue allows for an increase in their productivity by 70-185 in the first year of life, and by 17-33% in the second year. The complication of the composition of grass mixtures up to 5-9 species does not provide an increase in nitrogen fixation and productivity in comparison with fallow mixtures...