The species composition of lawn grasses as a determining factor in agrophytocenosis turf formation

The aim of the study is to assess the influence of the species composition of lawn grasses and grass mixtures on the formation of the root system and turf as a whole. Objectives: to determine the number of plants, the number of shoots, the tillering coefficient, the volume of roots, the mass of roots: wet and airdry; to conduct a comparative analysis of the obtained results. Research was carried out on gray forest (experiment 1) and sodpodzolic soils (experiment 2) with a flushing water regime. The relief is flat, the parent rock is fluvioglacial deposits. The method of placing the variants is random or randomized, the repetition of the experimental variants is threefold. Nine variants of the field experiment were developed: red fescue (100 %), red fescue subspecies red (100%) variety, sheep fescue (100 %), meadow bluegrass (100 %) variety, stolonforming bentgrass (100 %), perennial ryegrass (100 %); grass mixture: red fescue (50 %), meadow bluegrass (40 %), stolonforming bentgrass (10 %); grass mixture: red fescue (40 %), sheep fescue (30 %), perennial ryegrass (30 %); grass mixture: stolonforming bentgrass (35 %), red fescue (35 %), meadow bluegrass (20 %), red fescue (10 %). The conducted studies showed that the comparative results obtained in experiment 1 on heavy loamy soils and in experiment 2 on sandy loam soils showed approximately similar values for such important indicators of the formation of turf of lawn singlespecies grasses and grass mixtures as the tillering coefficient, volume and mass of roots. However, when assessing the nature of the formation of turf cover, the tendency of more favorable conditions for increasing the tillering coefficient, volume and mass of roots was preserved in experiment 1 on gray forest medium loamy soils compared to the light soils of experimental plot 2.